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| Criterion |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Decision Making Argument Mapping |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|
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 statements, evidence, and counterarguments get mixed up, a debate quickly loses its structure. Argument Mapping breaks a thesis down into its reasoning and makes visible what it really rests on. | For a single, hard-to-explain deviation, the method exposes the causal chain behind the visible symptom. It keeps the cause open until a controllable condition emerges instead of a mere description. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 1-3 h | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 1-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Argument Map, Evidence Gaps, Decision Rationale | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | SensemakingDecisionRationale | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |
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