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| Criterion |  Decision Making Constraint Analysis |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |  Product Discovery Assumption Mapping |  Decision Making Decision Matrix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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 assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 45-120 min | 45-60 min | 45-90 min |
Participantssame | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option |
Tagsno overlap | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs |