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Selected:SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)Outcome-Driven InnovationRoot Cause Analysis5 Whys
| Criterion | ![]() Architecture SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method) | ![]() Product Discovery Outcome-Driven Innovation | ![]() Operations Root Cause Analysis | ![]() Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | Outcome-Driven Innovation clarifies customer problems, solution opportunities, and evidence. It separates jobs, desired outcomes, importance, satisfaction, and opportunity, and captures results as desired outcome statements, an opportunity landscape, and segments by underserved needs. | When a problem keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another. | For a single, hard-to-explain deviation, the method exposes the causal chain behind the visible symptom. It keeps the cause open until a controllable condition emerges instead of a mere description. |
Complexitydifferent | High | High | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope | Mehrere Wochen | 1-4 h | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting | 2-6 researchers plus sample | 3-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
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 | Desired outcome statements, Opportunity landscape, Segmentation by underserved needs, Innovation hypotheses | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality | OutcomesInnovationResearchQuantitative | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |



