methodatlas
Compare

View methods side by side.

Choose up to four methods. Add them using the search and share the comparison by copying its link.

Criterion
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
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 for Constraint Analysis.
Decision Making
Constraint Analysis
Decision Tree method illustration showing its working structure
Decision Making
Decision Tree
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.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.When an initiative stalls, the limit often lies not in the idea but in hard or soft boundary conditions. Constraint Analysis separates these limits and shows which of them can actually be shaped.For decisions with follow-on paths and dependencies, a linear comparison is often not enough. A Decision Tree shows how options branch under conditions and which consequences hang on each branch.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumLowMedium
Timedifferent
20–45 min3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional30-90 min30-90 min
Participantsdifferent
Small cross-functional group1 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people2-81-6
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logLean 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 checksConstraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision BoundariesDecision Tree, Option Map, Assumption List
Tagsno overlap
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean
ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions
DecisionTreeOptions
Add more methods