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| Criterion |  Agile Affinity Estimation |  Product Discovery User Story Mapping |  Agile Bucket System |  Delivery Communication Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 user goals and delivery scope could drift apart, it orders the journey from goal to slice. It makes visible where an MVP can genuinely be cut. | 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. | When many people need to be informed in parallel and messages would otherwise arrive unevenly or too late, a Communication Plan orders communication reliably. Channels, audiences, and cadences interlock so important information doesn't get lost. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 2-4 h | 30-90 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-12 | 4-10 | 3-12 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Affinity Size Map, Grouped Estimates, Unclear Items | Story Map, Release Slices, Backlog Candidates | Bucketed Backlog, Relative Estimates, Split Candidates | Communication Plan, Channel Matrix, Message Cadence |
Tagsno overlap | EstimationBacklogRelative sizing | BacklogJourneyPlanningMVP | EstimationBacklogRelative sizing | CommunicationStakeholdersDeliveryPlanning |