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Criterion
Paper illustration of two people facing each other, speech bubbles and an open interview notebook.
UX Research
User Interviews
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Paper illustration of two user profile cards with a goal, behavior evidence, and an open research question.
UX Research
Personas
Purposedifferent
When teams derive needs only from assumptions and real motives are missing, user interviews give direct access to behavior and meaning. Conversations from the target group's everyday life make patterns, tensions, and open questions solidly visible.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 target groups stay too vague and teams talk about the same people differently, personas create a shared, solid picture of usage. Condensed profiles make needs, contexts, and differences tangible enough for decisions.
Complexitydifferent
LowHighMedium
Timedifferent
30–60 min per interviewSeveral meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope1-3 Tage
Participantsdifferent
1 participant per interviewEvaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholdersInternes Team
Formatsame
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Interview Notes, Themes, Insight SummaryPrioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigationsPersona Profiles, Needs Summary, Scenario Notes
Tagsno overlap
QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery
ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders
ResearchCustomerSynthesis
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Often compared together

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

Four paper stations connect system purpose, quality goals, risk cards and focused investigation with a target and gap profile.
Architecture
LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews)
Affinity Diagramming
UX Research
Affinity Diagramming
Architecture Communication Canvas method illustration showing its working structure
Architecture
Architecture Communication Canvas
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing