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| Criterion |  Decision Making Constraint Analysis |  Delivery Value Stream Mapping |  Engineering Kanban |  Delivery Communication Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | When delivery work dissolves into wait times, handoffs, and hidden effort, Value Stream Mapping makes the actual flow visible. The method exposes bottlenecks, idle time, and feedback loops so lead time and improvement levers become tangible. | When work sits in too many parallel streams, throughput suffers and no one sees the bottlenecks. Kanban makes the flow of work visible and limits overload so a system becomes calmer and more predictable. | When many people need to be informed in parallel and messages would otherwise arrive unevenly or too late, a Communication Plan orders communication reliably. Channels, audiences, and cadences interlock so important information doesn't get lost. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 1-3 h | Ongoing | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 4-10 | 2-12 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries | Current-state map, Future-state map, Bottleneck list | Kanban board, WIP policies, Flow metrics | Communication Plan, Channel Matrix, Message Cadence |
Tagsno overlap | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | LeanFlowWasteDelivery | FlowVisual managementDelivery | CommunicationStakeholdersDeliveryPlanning |