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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 Stakeholder Salience Model with its method-specific working model.
Facilitation
Stakeholder Salience Model
Paper illustration for Alignment Mapping.
Facilitation
Alignment Mapping
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 stakeholders appear to matter very differently, the Stakeholder Salience Model rates their actual priority through power, legitimacy, and urgency. It turns individual contributions into a visible selection. The result is captured as a Salience diagram and a class-based strategy.When several people work toward one goal but hold different mental maps, Alignment Mapping makes the discrepancies visible. It arranges goals, assumptions, and priorities so shared direction becomes verifiable.
Complexitydifferent
HighMediumMedium
Timedifferent
Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope60-90 min1-2 h
Participantsdifferent
Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting3-64-12
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop
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 alternativesSalience Diagram, Strategy per ClassAlignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
StakeholdersFacilitationAlignmentGovernance
AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation
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Often compared together

Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Stakeholder Mapping
Facilitation
Stakeholder Mapping
Paper illustration for 3-Circle Venn Diagram
Facilitation
3-Circle Venn Diagram
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Paper illustration of the McKinsey 7S Framework with seven connected fields
Business Strategy
McKinsey 7S