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Criterion
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Paper illustration for Kepner-Tregoe
Operations
Kepner-Tregoe
Paper illustration for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Operations
Failure Mode and Effects 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.In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures.For a disturbance that's hard to pin down, the method cleanly separates problem, cause, and decision. It reduces mixing when symptoms allow several interpretations.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.
Complexitydifferent
HighLowHighHigh
Timedifferent
Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope20–45 min2-8 h2-6 h
Participantsdifferent
Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weightingSmall cross-functional group2-83-10
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop
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 alternativesRisk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logProblem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk PlanFMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations
RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause
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