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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 Smoke Test.
Product Discovery
Smoke Test
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
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.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.ATAM helps teams weigh architecture decisions when quality goals compete. The team considers business goals, stakeholder expectations, and technical decisions together. The evaluation shows which risks need further investigation.When demand is still unclear, it measures interest in a feature before it is built. It separates real behavior from polite agreement and deliberately keeps build effort small.
Complexitydifferent
HighLowHighMedium
Timedifferent
Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope1-5 TageSeveral meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope1-5 Tage
Participantsdifferent
Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weightingNutzertrafficEvaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholdersNutzertraffic
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncAsyncWorkshop + asyncAsync
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 alternativesInterest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning NotePrioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigationsClick Data, Interest Signal, Learning Decision
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth
ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders
ValidationExperimentsDemandDiscovery
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