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Criterion
Paper illustration of two user profile cards with a goal, behavior evidence, and an open research question.
UX Research
Personas
Paper illustration for Change Analysis.
Operations
Change Analysis
Empathy Mapping
UX Research
Empathy Mapping
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Purposedifferent
When target groups stay too vague and teams talk about the same people differently, personas create a shared, solid picture of usage. Condensed profiles make needs, contexts, and differences tangible enough for decisions.For a deviation after a change, the method isolates the influence of the altered condition. It narrows down which differences are relevant and which are just accompanying noise.When a lot is assumed about a target group but little is seen jointly, empathy mapping makes knowledge and gaps directly comparable. The picture also shows which assumptions hold up and where evidence is missing.SAAM helps teams judge an architecture’s suitability for selected tasks and changes. It is particularly useful for examining modifiability and comparing architecture alternatives with clear reasoning.
Complexitydifferent
MediumMediumLowHigh
Timedifferent
1-3 Tage45-120 min30–60 minPreparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope
Participantsdifferent
Internes Team2-64-8Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Persona Profiles, Needs Summary, Scenario NotesChange Matrix, Cause Hypotheses, Validation Questions, Action ListEmpathy Map, Assumptions List, Research GapsDomain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternatives
Tagsno overlap
ResearchCustomerSynthesis
ChangeRoot causeTroubleshootingComparison
SynthesisQualitativeWorkshop
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
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