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Criterion
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Paper fishbone diagram with a measurable effect at the head and six labeled cause branches.
Operations
Fishbone Diagram
Paper illustration for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Operations
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Paper illustration for Change Analysis.
Operations
Change Analysis
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 a problem has several possible contributing factors, the method sorts causes by cause areas. It prevents an initial hunch from blocking the view of other plausible drivers.For a process, product, or service with noticeable failure risks, the method assesses possible failure modes in advance. It directs attention to combinations of occurrence, effect, and detectability.For a deviation after a change, the method isolates the influence of the altered condition. It narrows down which differences are relevant and which are just accompanying noise.
Complexitydifferent
HighLowHighMedium
Timedifferent
Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope30-60 min2-6 h45-120 min
Participantsdifferent
Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting2-83-102-6
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshopWorkshop + 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 alternativesFishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation BacklogFMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation ActionsChange Matrix, Cause Hypotheses, Validation Questions, Action List
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
Root causeQualityOperations
RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause
ChangeRoot causeTroubleshootingComparison
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