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Criterion
Paper illustration for Risk Storming.
Architecture
Risk Storming
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
Paper illustration for Alignment Mapping.
Facilitation
Alignment Mapping
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Purposedifferent
Helps clarify architecture context, options, and consequences in concrete terms. It organizes technical context, alternatives, and consequences. The result is captured as an Annotated Diagram, a Prioritized Risk List, and an Action Backlog.ARID examines how well developers can work with a technical design. It focuses on a part of the system that can still be revised, between the architecture overview and the detailed specification.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.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
LowMediumMediumHigh
Timedifferent
60-90 min2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional1-2 hSeveral meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope
Participantsdifferent
4-12Designers, developers as users, and facilitation4-12Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Annotated Diagram, Prioritized Risk List, Action BacklogPrioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsAlignment Map, Open Issues, Decision QuestionsPrioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigations
Tagsno overlap
RiskArchitectureWorkshopValidation
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation
ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders
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