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Criterion
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Paper illustration for Hypothesis-Driven Troubleshooting.
Engineering
Hypothesis-Driven Troubleshooting
Paper illustration for Fault Isolation.
Engineering
Fault Isolation
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 systems fail unexpectedly, spontaneous attempts often produce more noise than insight. Hypothesis-driven Troubleshooting translates symptoms into testable assumptions and makes troubleshooting learnable.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.
Complexitydifferent
HighMediumMedium
Timedifferent
Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope30-240 min30-180 min
Participantsdifferent
Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting1-61-6
Formatsame
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + 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 alternativesHypothesis Log, Test Plan, Evidence Notes, Diagnosis SummaryFault Isolation Map, Test Log, Excluded Hypotheses, Narrowed Fault Area
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
TroubleshootingProblem solvingDiagnosis
TroubleshootingDiagnosisEngineering
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Often compared together

Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration for Change Analysis.
Operations
Change Analysis
Paper illustration for 8D Problem Solving.
Operations
8D Problem Solving
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)