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Criterion
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Decision Tree method illustration showing its working structure
Decision Making
Decision Tree
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 decisions with follow-on paths and dependencies, a linear comparison is often not enough. A Decision Tree shows how options branch under conditions and which consequences hang on each branch.
Complexitydifferent
HighMedium
Timedifferent
Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope30-90 min
Participantsdifferent
Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting1-6
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 alternativesDecision Tree, Option Map, Assumption List
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
DecisionTreeOptions
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Paper illustration for Change Analysis.
Operations
Change Analysis
Paper illustration for Constraint Analysis.
Decision Making
Constraint Analysis
Paper illustration of the Force Field Analysis working structure.
Decision Making
Force Field Analysis