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| Criterion |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Facilitation Alignment Mapping |  Engineering Goal Question Metric |  Product Strategy Counter Metrics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | When several people work toward one goal but hold different mental maps, Alignment Mapping makes the discrepancies visible. It arranges goals, assumptions, and priorities so shared direction becomes verifiable. | Helps clarify technical problems, hypotheses, and next steps in concrete terms. It breaks a technical problem into testable parts. The result is captured as a GQM table and metric briefs. | When a headline metric could mask side effects, it adds guardrail signals against unwanted outcomes. It connects customer value, product logic, and decision priorities. The result is captured as a counter-metric list and guardrail definitions. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 1-2 h | 90-180 min | 30-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 4-12 | 3-6 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Alignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions | GQM Table, Metric Profiles | Counter Metric List, Guardrail Definitions |
Tagsno overlap | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation | MetricsMeasurementEngineeringAlignment | MetricsMeasurementStrategyExperiments |