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| Criterion |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Decision Making Decision Matrix |  Decision Making Trade-off 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. | 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. | When several options collide with several criteria, comparison quickly becomes subjective. A Decision Matrix makes the trade-off visible and brings weighting, criteria, and options into a shared logic. | With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 20–45 min | 45-90 min | 45-120 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | Small cross-functional group | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides |
Tags1 shared | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions |