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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 for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Operations
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Paper illustration for Change Analysis.
Operations
Change Analysis
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
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.For a process, product, or service with noticeable failure risks, the method assesses possible failure modes in advance. It directs attention to combinations of occurrence, effect, and detectability.For a deviation after a change, the method isolates the influence of the altered condition. It narrows down which differences are relevant and which are just accompanying noise.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.
Complexitydifferent
LowHighMediumHigh
Timedifferent
30–60 min per interview2-6 h45-120 minPreparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope
Participantsdifferent
1 participant per interview3-102-6Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Interview Notes, Themes, Insight SummaryFMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation ActionsChange Matrix, Cause Hypotheses, Validation Questions, Action ListDomain 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
Tagsno overlap
QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery
RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause
ChangeRoot causeTroubleshootingComparison
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
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