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| Criterion |  UX Research Usability Testing |  Product Discovery Smoke Test |  Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) |  Growth A/B Testing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a product is built but people get stuck on tasks, usability testing shows the friction at concrete points. Observed use instead of self-report makes visible where orientation, understanding, or interaction breaks down. | 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 two variants compete, discussions quickly decide by taste rather than effect. A/B Testing checks behavior under controlled conditions and separates real improvement from chance or expectation effects. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | High | High |
Timedifferent | 1-2 h je Session | 1-5 Tage | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope | 1-4 Wochen |
Participantsdifferent | Based on research question | Nutzertraffic | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders | 1-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async | Async |
Outputdifferent | Usability Issues, Severity List, Recommendations | Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note | Prioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigations | Experiment results, Decision log, Learning summary |
Tagsno overlap | ValidationUXPrototype | ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders | ExperimentsGrowthAnalyticsValidation |