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| Criterion |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) |  Decision Making Decision Rights Mapping |  Decision Making DACI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | In organizations with many stakeholders, it often blurs who actually decides and who is merely consulted. It separates options, evaluation criteria, and open risks. The result is captured as a Decision Rights matrix and an agreement. | In cross-functional decisions, responsibilities quickly blur between approval, influence, and execution. DACI arranges these roles so decision pressure, contribution, and information stay cleanly separated. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 20–45 min | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope | 90-180 min | 30-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | Small cross-functional group | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders | 4-12 | 2-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop | 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 | Decision Rights Matrix, Agreement | DACI Matrix, Decision Owner, Decision Log |
Tagsno overlap | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders | DecisionGovernanceAlignmentResponsibility | DecisionRolesGovernanceAlignment |