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Selected:SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)Assumption SurfacingTest CardRiskiest Assumption Test
| Criterion |  Architecture SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method) |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Product Discovery Test Card |  Product Discovery Riskiest Assumption Test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | The Test Card turns a critical assumption into a testable claim and specifies in advance which result counts as success. | When an idea hinges on one critical unknown, it prioritizes testing that exact piece of uncertainty first. It separates problem, assumption, solution, and evidence. The result is captured as a prioritized list of assumptions, a test plan, and a result report. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope | 45-90 min | 20-35 min | 1-2 Wochen pro Iteration |
Participantsdifferent | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting | 2-8 | 1-5 | 2-6 |
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 List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Test Card with a pre-set threshold | Prioritized Assumption List, Test Plan, Results Report |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | ExperimentsValidationDiscoveryHypothesis | ExperimentsValidationDiscoveryAssumptions |