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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 with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Paper illustration for Opportunity Interview
Product Discovery
Opportunity Interview
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff 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.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 opportunities are still hidden behind signals of need, it structures conversations around needs and obstacles. It looks for patterns that lead to new product opportunities.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.
Complexitydifferent
LowHighMediumHigh
Timedifferent
30–60 min per interviewPreparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope30-60 min je InterviewSeveral meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope
Participantsdifferent
1 participant per interviewArchitecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting5-12 InterviewsEvaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders
Formatsame
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Interview Notes, Themes, Insight SummaryDomain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternativesInterview Notes, Opportunity Themes, Customer QuotesPrioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigations
Tagsno overlap
QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
DiscoveryInterviewsOpportunityCustomer
ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders
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