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| Criterion |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Architecture SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method) |  Decision Making Option Framing |
|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a problem keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another. | 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 early decisions, alternatives are often still vague, incomplete, or blended together. Option Framing brings every possibility into a comparable form and makes visible which variant actually fits the question. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-4 h | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope | 45-120 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting | 3-8 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Domain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternatives | Option Frames, Assumption Notes, Comparable Shortlist, Decision Inputs |
Tagsno overlap | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality | OptionsDecision framingStrategyComparison |
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