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| Criterion |  Operations A3 Problem Solving |  Product Discovery Smoke Test |  Product Discovery Pretotyping |  Innovation Lean Startup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For a complex deviation with several people involved, the method bundles problem, analysis, and decision onto one page. It creates a shared working space where causes, countermeasures, and follow-up fit together. | When demand only needs to be roughly verified, it tests interest with minimal effort. It measures whether people would take a next step at all. | Pretotyping clarifies whether a customer problem and solution idea create enough real demand. It separates problem, assumption, solution, and evidence, and captures the result as a pretotyping sketch, test setup, and conversion data. | For uncertain business assumptions, the method forces the idea into contact with real market reactions early. It separates wishful picture, assumption, and observable behavior, so that learning becomes faster than planning. This translates uncertainty into measurable insight. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 1-5 Tage | Stunden bis wenige Tage | Wochen bis Monate je Lernzyklus |
Participantsdifferent | 2-5 | Nutzertraffic | 1-4 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | A3 Report, Action Plan, Root Cause Analysis | Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note | Pretotyping sketch, Test setup, Conversion data, Go or no-go decision | Hypothesis list, MVPs, Learning reports, Pivot or persevere decision |
Tagsno overlap | LeanProblem solvingCoachingOperations | ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth | ValidationDemandMVP | LeanStartupValidationMVP |