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| Criterion |  UX Research Personas |  Decision Making Option Framing |  Business Strategy TOWS Matrix |  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. | In early decisions, alternatives are often still vague, incomplete, or blended together. Option Framing brings every possibility into a comparable form and makes visible which variant actually fits the question. | The TOWS Matrix connects internal strengths and weaknesses with external opportunities and threats into action-oriented strategies. It goes a step further than a pure stocktaking. | 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 | Medium | Medium | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Tage | 45-120 min | 1-2 h | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope |
Participantsdifferent | Internes Team | 3-8 | 3-10 | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Persona Profiles, Needs Summary, Scenario Notes | Option Frames, Assumption Notes, Comparable Shortlist, Decision Inputs | TOWS Matrix, Strategic Options, Priority Actions | Domain 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 | OptionsDecision framingStrategyComparison | StrategyAnalysisOptions | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality |