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| Criterion | ![]() Business Strategy Porter Five Forces | ![]() Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) | ![]() Architecture arc42 | ![]() Facilitation Alignment Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | Porter Five Forces analyzes the forces that shape competitive pressure and profitability in a market. The view of market structure goes beyond individual competitors and reveals systemic pressure points. | 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. | arc42 structures architecture knowledge so teams can document system, decisions, and risks consistently. The template builds a living understanding of the architecture instead of scattered notes. | When several people work toward one goal but hold different mental maps, Alignment Mapping makes the discrepancies visible. It arranges goals, assumptions, and priorities so shared direction becomes verifiable. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | High | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope | 1-2 Tage | 1-2 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders | 1-4 | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Five Forces Analysis, Competitive Risks, Strategic Options | Prioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigations | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Alignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions |
Tagsno overlap | StrategyCompetitionMarket | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation |



