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| Criterion |  Facilitation Consensus Workshop |  Facilitation Decision Jam |  UX Research Affinity Diagramming |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a group needs a solid decision without outvoting individual factions, a Consensus Workshop creates a negotiable common ground. It makes agreement, reservations, and open tensions discussable at the same time. | When a decision is stuck, Decision Jam loosens the knot through structured separation of problem, idea, and selection. The format creates movement without jumping prematurely at the first seemingly elegant answer. | When research notes, feedback, or observations sit unconnected side by side, affinity diagramming sorts the raw material into solid themes. Many individual points turn into patterns that make decisions and opportunities clearer. | For a single, hard-to-explain deviation, the method exposes the causal chain behind the visible symptom. It keeps the cause open until a controllable condition emerges instead of a mere description. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | 60-90 min | 45–90 min | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 5-30 | 4-10 | 3-10 | 2-6 |
Formatsame | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Consensus Clusters, Theme Titles, Priority Areas | Problem Cluster, Prioritized Challenge, Experiment | Theme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areas | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | FacilitationConsensusWorkshopAlignment | FacilitationDecisionProblem solvingWorkshop | SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |