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| Criterion |  UX Research Card Sorting |  Engineering Failure Scenario Analysis |  Decision Making Decision Tree |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When content only makes sense internally and users can't find the structure again, card sorting exposes their mental order. Terms, groups, and naming are then aligned with the target group's expectations. | In critical processes, it is not enough to plan only for the normal case. Failure Scenario Analysis looks at the path into failure and shows which failures, chains, and control gaps cause the most damage. | 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. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 20-45 min | 1-3 h | 30-90 min | 20–45 min |
Participantsdifferent | Based on research question | 3-8 | 1-6 | Small cross-functional group |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Failure Scenarios, Risk Notes, Control Gaps, Test and Response Actions | Decision Tree, Option Map, Assumption List | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log |
Tagsno overlap | Information architectureNavigationStructure | FailureResilienceRisk | DecisionTreeOptions | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning |