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Criterion
Paper illustration for Affinity Estimation.
Agile
Affinity Estimation
Paper illustration for Bucket System.
Agile
Bucket System
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing
Purposedifferent
When many tasks need to be classified quickly, it sorts them by perceived effort and similarity. It reduces the effort of fine-grained estimation for large volumes.When a large batch of work needs a fast, rough estimate, it sorts items into predefined size buckets. It sorts work by value, risk, and delivery ability. The result is captured as a Bucketed Backlog, Relative Estimates, and Split Candidates.In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures.Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it.
Complexitydifferent
MediumMediumLowLow
Timedifferent
30-90 min30-90 min20–45 min45-90 min
Participantsdifferent
3-123-12Small cross-functional group2-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshopWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Affinity Size Map, Grouped Estimates, Unclear ItemsBucketed Backlog, Relative Estimates, Split CandidatesRisk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logAssumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan
Tagsno overlap
EstimationBacklogRelative sizing
EstimationBacklogRelative sizing
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery
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