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Criterion
Paper illustration for Risk Storming.
Architecture
Risk Storming
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Paper illustration of a calm four-quadrant Assumption Map with hypothesis cards and emphasis on important assumptions with little evidence.
Product Discovery
Assumption Mapping
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.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.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 assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first.
Complexitydifferent
LowLowHighMedium
Timedifferent
60-90 min20–45 minSeveral meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope45-60 min
Participantsdifferent
4-12Small cross-functional groupEvaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders2-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Annotated Diagram, Prioritized Risk List, Action BacklogRisk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logPrioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigationsAssumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking
Tags1 shared
RiskArchitectureWorkshopValidation
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders
AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation
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