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Criterion
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Paper illustration of Request for Comments (RFC) with its method-specific working model.
Architecture
Request for Comments
Architecture Communication Canvas method illustration showing its working structure
Architecture
Architecture Communication Canvas
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.An RFC clarifies architecture context, options, and consequences. It structures technical context, alternatives, tradeoffs, open questions, and review feedback, and captures the result as an RFC document, reviewer comments, and a decision rationale.The Architecture Communication Canvas plans architecture communication so the right people receive the right message. The method turns technical complexity into deliberate communication design.
Complexitydifferent
LowHighMediumMedium
Timedifferent
20–45 minSeveral meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung60-120 min
Participantsdifferent
Small cross-functional groupEvaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders3-20 Reviewer2-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncAsyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logPrioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigationsRFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or ticketsCommunication Canvas, Stakeholder Messages, Architecture Communication Plan
Tagsno overlap
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders
ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance
ArchitectureCommunicationStakeholdersCanvas
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