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Criterion
Paper illustration for Contextual Inquiry.
UX Research
Contextual Inquiry
Gemba Walk workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Operations
Gemba Walk
Value Stream Mapping workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
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 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
MediumLowMedium
Timedifferent
1-3 Wochen30-120 min1-3 h
Participantsdifferent
4-12 Beobachtungen2-64-10
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain PointsObservation Notes, Improvement IdeasCurrent-state map, Future-state map, Bottleneck list
Tagsno overlap
UX researchObservationContext
LeanObservationProcessOperations
LeanFlowWasteDelivery
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

A3 Problem-Solving workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Operations
A3 Problem Solving
Paper illustration for Kaizen Event.
Operations
Kaizen Event
Paper illustration for Monte Carlo Forecasting.
Delivery
Monte Carlo Forecasting