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Selected:Pre-MortemATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)Assumption MappingAssumption Surfacing
| Criterion |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) |  Product Discovery Assumption Mapping |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures. | 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. | When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 20–45 min | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope | 45-60 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | Small cross-functional group | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Prioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigations | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan |
Tags1 shared | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery |