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Criterion
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Paper illustration of a four-quadrant grid with tasks sorted by importance and urgency and translated into actions.
Decision Making
Eisenhower Matrix
Paper illustration of two considered options leading to a decision record with a marked status and visible consequences.
Architecture
Architecture Decision Record
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
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.It separates true priorities from noise so it becomes clear what should be done now, scheduled, delegated, or dropped.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.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
HighLowLowMedium
Timedifferent
Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope15-30 min15-45 min2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional
Participantsdifferent
Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting1-61-3Designers, developers as users, and facilitation
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncAsyncWorkshop + 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 alternativesEisenhower Matrix, Action List, Delegation NotesADR File, Decision Log, RationalePrioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
PrioritizationFocusTasks
ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
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