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Criterion
Visual Management workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Operations
Visual Management
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Paper illustration for Option Framing.
Decision Making
Option Framing
Paper illustration for Change Analysis.
Operations
Change Analysis
Purposedifferent
With high tempo and many parallel topics, the method makes status, deviations, and priorities visible at a glance. It reduces search effort and prevents what matters from getting lost in daily work.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.In early decisions, alternatives are often still vague, incomplete, or blended together. Option Framing brings every possibility into a comparable form and makes visible which variant actually fits the question.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.
Complexitydifferent
LowHighMediumMedium
Timedifferent
OngoingPreparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope45-120 min45-120 min
Participantsdifferent
1-20Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting3-82-6
Formatsame
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Visual Board, Status Indicators, Exception CuesDomain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternativesOption Frames, Assumption Notes, Comparable Shortlist, Decision InputsChange Matrix, Cause Hypotheses, Validation Questions, Action List
Tagsno overlap
SignalsOperationsVisual management
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
OptionsDecision framingStrategyComparison
ChangeRoot causeTroubleshootingComparison
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