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| Criterion |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |  Product Discovery Assumption Mapping |  Operations Failure Mode and Effects Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | For a disturbance that's hard to pin down, the method cleanly separates problem, cause, and decision. It reduces mixing when symptoms allow several interpretations. | When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. | For a process, product, or service with noticeable failure risks, the method assesses possible failure modes in advance. It directs attention to combinations of occurrence, effect, and detectability. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 2-8 h | 45-60 min | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking | FMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions |
Tagsno overlap | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation | RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause |