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Criterion
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Paper illustration of the Force Field Analysis working structure.
Decision Making
Force Field Analysis
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.SAAM helps teams judge an architecture’s suitability for selected tasks and changes. It is particularly useful for examining modifiability and comparing architecture alternatives with clear reasoning.In change initiatives, supporting and restraining forces sit at the table at the same time. Force Field Analysis makes these tensions explicit and shows where change can be pushed forward by strengthening or relieving.
Complexitydifferent
LowHighLow
Timedifferent
20–45 minPreparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope45-90 min
Participantsdifferent
Small cross-functional groupArchitecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting3-12
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logDomain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternativesForce Field Map, Change Levers, Risk Notes
Tagsno overlap
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
ChangeDecisionStrategy
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Gap Analysis method illustration showing its working structure
Business Strategy
GAP Analysis
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 OODA Loop.
Decision Making
OODA Loop