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Criterion
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Paper illustration of Request for Comments (RFC) with its method-specific working model.
Architecture
Request for Comments
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Paper illustration of RAID Log with a method-specific labelled workspace.
Delivery
RAID Log
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.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.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.Helps clarify scope, sequence, and delivery flow in concrete terms. It makes work, boundaries, and order steerable. The result is captured as a RAID Log and a source for status reporting.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumHighLow
Timedifferent
20–45 min1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur EntscheidungSeveral meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope30 min Setup, dann laufend
Participantsdifferent
Small cross-functional group3-20 ReviewerEvaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders1-3 maintaining, briefing for everyone
Formatdifferent
WorkshopAsyncWorkshop + asyncAsync
Outputdifferent
Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logRFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or ticketsPrioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigationsRAID Log, Status Report Source
Tagsno overlap
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance
ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders
RiskTrackingStakeholdersGovernance
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