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| Criterion |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  Operations PDCA Cycle |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |
|---|---|---|---|
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. | For an improvement that still has to prove itself in everyday work, the method runs it through small learning loops. It connects planning, checking, and standardization into a repeatable learning mode. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen | 1 h bis mehrere Wochen | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 1-8 | 2-8 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | PDCA Log, Experiment Plan, Learning Outcome, Standard Change | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchObservationContext | Continuous improvementLeanExperiments | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery |
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.
