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Criterion
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing
Paper illustration of two people facing each other, speech bubbles and an open interview notebook.
UX Research
User Interviews
Paper illustration for Constraint Analysis.
Decision Making
Constraint 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.When teams derive needs only from assumptions and real motives are missing, user interviews give direct access to behavior and meaning. Conversations from the target group's everyday life make patterns, tensions, and open questions solidly visible.When an initiative stalls, the limit often lies not in the idea but in hard or soft boundary conditions. Constraint Analysis separates these limits and shows which of them can actually be shaped.
Complexitysame
LowLowLow
Timedifferent
45-90 min30–60 min per interview30-90 min
Participantsdifferent
2-81 participant per interview2-8
Formatsame
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning PlanInterview Notes, Themes, Insight SummaryConstraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries
Tagsno overlap
AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery
QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery
ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions
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A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Paper illustration of a calm four-quadrant Assumption Map with hypothesis cards and emphasis on important assumptions with little evidence.
Product Discovery
Assumption Mapping
Decision Tree method illustration showing its working structure
Decision Making
Decision Tree
Paper illustration of DIBB with its method-specific working model.
Product Strategy
DIBB