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Selected:Nominal Group TechniqueConsensus WorkshopATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)Dot Voting
| Criterion | ![]() Facilitation Nominal Group Technique | ![]() Facilitation Consensus Workshop | ![]() Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) | ![]() Facilitation Dot Voting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When loud voices could dominate a round, Nominal Group Technique protects individual thinking time from group effects. It collects ideas separately first and only then enables shared weighting. | When a group needs a solid decision without outvoting individual factions, a Consensus Workshop creates a negotiable common ground. It makes agreement, reservations, and open tensions discussable at the same time. | 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 workshop has produced too many options and the group needs to condense quickly, dot voting makes preferences visible in a short time. It bundles individual votes into a solid signal for the next selection. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | High | Low |
Timedifferent | 60-120 min | 1-3 h | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope | 5-15 min |
Participantsdifferent | 5-12 | 5-30 | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders | 3-20 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Ranked Ideas, Clarified Options, Group Priority | Consensus Clusters, Theme Titles, Priority Areas | Prioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigations | Ranked list, Consensus signal, Shortlist |
Tagsno overlap | FacilitationPrioritizationVotingInclusion | FacilitationConsensusWorkshopAlignment | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders | FacilitationVotingConsensusPrioritization |



