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Criterion
Paper illustration of Working Backwards with its method-specific working model.
Product Discovery
Working Backwards
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Paper illustration for Root Cause Analysis.
Operations
Root Cause Analysis
Purposedifferent
When the target state and benefit need to be clear first, it thinks backward from the desired outcome into the product logic. It sharpens vision, objections, and value proposition before elaboration.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 a problem keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another.
Complexitydifferent
MediumHighMedium
Timedifferent
4-8 h, mehrere IterationenPreparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope1-4 h
Participantsdifferent
2-6Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting3-8
Formatsame
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Future Press Release, FAQ, Vision StatementDomain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternativesProblem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan
Tagsno overlap
VisionNarrativeAlignment
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident
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Often compared together

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

Paper illustration for 8D Problem Solving.
Operations
8D Problem Solving
Paper illustration for Change Analysis.
Operations
Change Analysis
Paper illustration for Root Cause Tree Analysis
Operations
Root Cause Tree Analysis