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| Criterion |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  Operations Gemba Walk |  Engineering Kanban |  Delivery Value Stream Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When work processes are known only from accounts and the real context stays hidden, Contextual Inquiry makes behavior at the workplace visible. Observation and follow-up questions together show how people actually work, get interrupted, and improvise. | When there is uncertainty about the real course of a process, the method brings observation to the place where work happens. It combines perception, follow-up questions, and process knowledge so decisions rest on actual workflows instead of assumptions. | 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 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen | 30-120 min | Ongoing | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 2-6 | 2-12 | 4-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Observation Notes, Improvement Ideas | Kanban board, WIP policies, Flow metrics | Current-state map, Future-state map, Bottleneck list |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchObservationContext | LeanObservationProcessOperations | FlowVisual managementDelivery | LeanFlowWasteDelivery |