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Criterion
Paper illustration of Porter’s five competitive forces
Business Strategy
Porter Five Forces
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Four paper stations connect system purpose, quality goals, risk cards and focused investigation with a target and gap profile.
Architecture
LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews)
Paper illustration of a SWOT matrix with four separated quadrants and marked strategic options.
Business Strategy
SWOT Analysis
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.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.LASR helps development teams identify where their software falls short of important quality goals and which improvements to consider. A small group with existing system knowledge can make an initial assessment and investigate open questions in more detail.SWOT Analysis arranges strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats into a compact picture of the situation. It keeps internal capabilities and external influences separate before strategic options emerge from them.
Complexitydifferent
MediumHighMediumLow
Timedifferent
1-3 hPreparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional30-60 min
Participantsdifferent
2-8Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting1 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people3-12
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Five Forces Analysis, Competitive Risks, Strategic OptionsDomain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternativesLean Mission Statement describing the software’s purpose, Prioritized quality goals and evaluation criteria, Risks and estimated gaps against quality goals, More closely examined findings and open checksSWOT matrix, Strategic options, Action list
Tagsno overlap
StrategyCompetitionMarket
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean
StrategyAnalysisMarketPositioning
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