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Criterion
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
Paper illustration for Eat the Frog
Operations
Eat the Frog
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.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.The method protects energy and attention for the task that creates the largest progress and is often postponed.
Complexitydifferent
HighMediumLow
Timedifferent
Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional15-90 min daily
Participantsdifferent
Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weightingDesigners, developers as users, and facilitation1
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncAsync
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 alternativesPrioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsPriority Task, Completion Note, Daily Focus
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
PrioritizationProductivityFocusExecution
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Often compared together

Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration of a four-quadrant grid with tasks sorted by importance and urgency and translated into actions.
Decision Making
Eisenhower Matrix
Paper notes move from an inbox to action, project and calendar collections.
Operations
Getting Things Done
Paper illustration for Ivy Lee Method
Operations
Ivy Lee Method
Paper illustration for Pareto Analysis
Decision Making
Pareto Analysis