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Selected:Mind MappingATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)Root Cause AnalysisFailure Mode and Effects Analysis
| Criterion |  Facilitation Mind Mapping |  Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Operations Failure Mode and Effects Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a topic is still unclear and too many thoughts surface at once, Mind Mapping creates an open surface for ordering them. It makes connections, subtopics, and starting points visible without fixing them too early. | ATAM helps teams weigh architecture decisions when quality goals compete. The team considers business goals, stakeholder expectations, and technical decisions together. The evaluation shows which risks need further investigation. | When a problem keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another. | For a process, product, or service with noticeable failure risks, the method assesses possible failure modes in advance. It directs attention to combinations of occurrence, effect, and detectability. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 15-45 min | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope | 1-4 h | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | 1-10 | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders | 3-8 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Mind Map, Topic Clusters, Open Questions | Prioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigations | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | FMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions |
Tagsno overlap | BrainstormingIdeasMappingStructureFacilitation | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause |