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| Criterion |  Architecture SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method) |  Architecture Views and Beyond |  Facilitation Alignment Mapping |  Business Strategy McKinsey 7S |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | 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. | McKinsey 7S checks whether Strategy, Structure, Systems, Shared Values, Skills, Style, and Staff fit together. Organizational misalignments become visible across multiple levers as a result. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope | 1-3 Tage | 1-2 h | 2-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting | 1-4 | 4-12 | 3-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
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 alternatives | Architecture Views, Cross-view Notes, Rationale | Alignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions | 7S Assessment, Alignment Gaps, Change Actions |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality | DocumentationStakeholdersArchitecture | AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation | OrganizationStrategyAlignmentChange |