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| Criterion |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Architecture Views and Beyond |  Decision Making Risk Matrix |  Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | Views and Beyond organizes architecture into several views so no single diagram has to do everything at once. This makes it possible to choose the representation that fits the stakeholder's question. | When a project faces many possible disruptions, it quickly becomes unclear which risks deserve attention first. It separates options, evaluation criteria, and open risks. The result is captured as a Risk Matrix and a Top Risk List. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Low | High |
Timedifferent | 20–45 min | 1-3 Tage | 30-60 min | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope |
Participantsdifferent | Small cross-functional group | 1-4 | 3-10 | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Architecture Views, Cross-view Notes, Rationale | Risk Matrix, Top Risk List | Prioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigations |
Tagsno overlap | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | DocumentationStakeholdersArchitecture | RiskDecisionPrioritizationAssessment | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders |