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Selected:SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)Assumption MappingAssumption SurfacingExperiment Canvas
| Criterion |  Architecture SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method) |  Product Discovery Assumption Mapping |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Product Discovery Experiment Canvas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. | When experiments become unreadable after the fact, it arranges hypothesis, signal, and learning goal on a single canvas. It separates problem, assumption, solution, and evidence. The result is captured as a Completed Experiment Canvas and a Success Metric. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope | 45-60 min | 45-90 min | 30-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting | 2-8 | 2-8 | 1-5 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + 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 | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Completed Experiment Canvas, Success Metric |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | ExperimentsValidationDiscoveryHypothesis |