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| Criterion |  Decision Making Constraint Analysis |  Systems Thinking Evaporating Cloud |  Operations Causal Factor Analysis |  Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | The method makes visible why two seemingly incompatible demands arise and which assumption must be tested to resolve the conflict. | For an event with a complicated course, the method breaks down the contributing factors along the timeline. It shows how conditions, decisions, and reactions together produce a course of events. | A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | High | High |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 60-120 min | 2-6 h | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 2-8 | 3-10 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries | Conflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next Experiments | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas |
Tagsno overlap | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality |