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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 with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Affinity Diagramming
UX Research
Affinity Diagramming
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.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.When research notes, feedback, or observations sit unconnected side by side, affinity diagramming sorts the raw material into solid themes. Many individual points turn into patterns that make decisions and opportunities clearer.
Complexitydifferent
MediumHighLow
Timedifferent
1-3 TagePreparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope45–90 min
Participantsdifferent
Internes TeamArchitecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting3-10
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Persona Profiles, Needs Summary, Scenario NotesDomain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternativesTheme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areas
Tagsno overlap
ResearchCustomerSynthesis
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration for Change Analysis.
Operations
Change Analysis
Paper illustration of two people facing each other, speech bubbles and an open interview notebook.
UX Research
User Interviews
Paper illustration for 8D Problem Solving.
Operations
8D Problem Solving
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)