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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 Root Cause Tree Analysis
Operations
Root Cause Tree Analysis
Paper fishbone diagram with a measurable effect at the head and six labeled cause branches.
Operations
Fishbone Diagram
Paper illustration for Change Analysis.
Operations
Change 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.For a problem with several suspected causes, the method builds a causal structure instead of a mere list. It makes visible how causes connect and where the strongest points of leverage lie.When a problem has several possible contributing factors, the method sorts causes by cause areas. It prevents an initial hunch from blocking the view of other plausible drivers.For a deviation after a change, the method isolates the influence of the altered condition. It narrows down which differences are relevant and which are just accompanying noise.
Complexitydifferent
HighMediumLowMedium
Timedifferent
Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope1-3 h30-60 min45-120 min
Participantsdifferent
Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting2-82-82-6
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshopWorkshop + 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 alternativesCause Tree, Evidence Notes, CountermeasuresFishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation BacklogChange Matrix, Cause Hypotheses, Validation Questions, Action List
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
Root causeTreeIncidentQuality
Root causeQualityOperations
ChangeRoot causeTroubleshootingComparison
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