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| Criterion |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |  Decision Making Decision Matrix |  Decision Making Decision Tree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | 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. | For decisions with follow-on paths and dependencies, a linear comparison is often not enough. A Decision Tree shows how options branch under conditions and which consequences hang on each branch. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 45-120 min | 45-90 min | 30-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 | 1-6 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option | Decision Tree, Option Map, Assumption List |
Tags1 shared | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs | DecisionTreeOptions |