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Criterion
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Paper illustration of RAID Log with a method-specific labelled workspace.
Delivery
RAID Log
Views and Beyond method illustration showing its working structure
Architecture
Views and Beyond
A paper-based illustration representing arc42 with its core stages and visible working result.
Architecture
arc42
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.Helps clarify scope, sequence, and delivery flow in concrete terms. It makes work, boundaries, and order steerable. The result is captured as a RAID Log and a source for status reporting.Views and Beyond organizes architecture into several views so no single diagram has to do everything at once. This makes it possible to choose the representation that fits the stakeholder's question.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.
Complexitydifferent
HighLowMediumLow
Timedifferent
Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope30 min Setup, dann laufend1-3 Tage1-2 Tage
Participantsdifferent
Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting1-3 maintaining, briefing for everyone1-41-4
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncAsyncWorkshop + 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 alternativesRAID Log, Status Report SourceArchitecture Views, Cross-view Notes, RationaleArchitecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
RiskTrackingStakeholdersGovernance
DocumentationStakeholdersArchitecture
ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication
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