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Selected:SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)Architecture Decision Record5-Minuten VC-CheckARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
| Criterion | ![]() Architecture SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method) | ![]() Architecture Architecture Decision Record | ![]() Business Strategy 5-Minuten VC-Check | ![]() Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | An ADR permanently records an architecture decision with context, trade-offs, and consequence. It creates continuity for later changes because the decision path stays traceable. | The 5-Minute VC Check clarifies opportunities and strategic options at the earliest idea stage. It compares problem quality, customer willingness to pay, alternatives, differentiation, and market potential, and captures the result as a VC-check note, go/sharpen/park decision, and risk list. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope | 15-45 min | 5-15 min | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional |
Participantsdifferent | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting | 1-3 | 1-5 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop + 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 alternatives | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | VC-check note, Go/sharpen/park decision, Risk and assumption list, Next validation step | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | StartupValidationCompetition | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks |



