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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 Risk Storming.
Architecture
Risk Storming
Paper illustration for Smoke Test.
Product Discovery
Smoke Test
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 architecture context, options, and consequences in concrete terms. It organizes technical context, alternatives, and consequences. The result is captured as an Annotated Diagram, a Prioritized Risk List, and an Action Backlog.When demand only needs to be roughly verified, it tests interest with minimal effort. It measures whether people would take a next step at all.
Complexitydifferent
HighLowLow
Timedifferent
Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope60-90 min1-5 Tage
Participantsdifferent
Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting4-12Nutzertraffic
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopAsync
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 alternativesAnnotated Diagram, Prioritized Risk List, Action BacklogInterest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
RiskArchitectureWorkshopValidation
ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration of a calm four-quadrant Assumption Map with hypothesis cards and emphasis on important assumptions with little evidence.
Product Discovery
Assumption Mapping
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Paper illustration for Fake Door Test
Product Discovery
Fake Door Test