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Selected:SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)Fault Isolationarc42ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
| Criterion | ![]() Architecture SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method) | ![]() Engineering Fault Isolation | ![]() Architecture arc42 | ![]() 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. | In technical failures, the visible symptom often gets mixed up with the actual cause. Fault Isolation narrows the fault space and progressively reduces which part of the system is truly affected. | arc42 structures architecture knowledge so teams can document system, decisions, and risks consistently. The template builds a living understanding of the architecture instead of scattered notes. | 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 | High | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope | 30-180 min | 1-2 Tage | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional |
Participantsdifferent | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting | 1-6 | 1-4 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation |
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 | Fault Isolation Map, Test Log, Excluded Hypotheses, Narrowed Fault Area | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality | TroubleshootingDiagnosisEngineering | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks |



