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Criterion
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Stakeholder Mapping
Facilitation
Stakeholder Mapping
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Paper illustration for Alignment Mapping.
Facilitation
Alignment Mapping
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.When an initiative depends on many people, interests, and power dynamics, Stakeholder Mapping systematically orders the environment. It shows who influences, who is affected, and where relationship management or safeguarding matters first.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.When several people work toward one goal but hold different mental maps, Alignment Mapping makes the discrepancies visible. It arranges goals, assumptions, and priorities so shared direction becomes verifiable.
Complexitydifferent
LowLowHighMedium
Timedifferent
20–45 min60–90 minSeveral meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope1-2 h
Participantsdifferent
Small cross-functional group2-8Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders4-12
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logStakeholder Map, Engagement Plan, Risk NotesPrioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigationsAlignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions
Tagsno overlap
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
StakeholdersAlignmentFacilitationChange
ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders
AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation
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