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Criterion
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
A3 Problem-Solving workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Operations
A3 Problem Solving
Purposedifferent
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.For a complex deviation with several people involved, the method bundles problem, analysis, and decision onto one page. It creates a shared working space where causes, countermeasures, and follow-up fit together.
Complexitydifferent
HighMedium
Timedifferent
Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope45-90 min
Participantsdifferent
Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting2-5
Formatsame
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
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 alternativesA3 Report, Action Plan, Root Cause Analysis
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
LeanProblem solvingCoachingOperations
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Four paper stations connect system purpose, quality goals, risk cards and focused investigation with a target and gap profile.
Architecture
LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews)
Paper illustration for 8D Problem Solving.
Operations
8D Problem Solving
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)