methodatlas
Compare

View methods side by side.

Choose up to four methods. Add them using the search and share the comparison by copying its link.

Criterion
Paper illustration for Contextual Inquiry.
UX Research
Contextual Inquiry
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Paper illustration of HEART Framework with its method-specific working model.
UX Research
HEART Framework
Paper illustration for Constraint Analysis.
Decision Making
Constraint Analysis
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.In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures.Helps clarify observations, needs, and patterns in concrete terms. It groups observations into patterns, questions, and decisions. The result is captured as a HEART-GSM table and dashboard.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.
Complexitydifferent
MediumLowMediumLow
Timedifferent
1-3 Wochen20–45 min120 min initial, dann laufend30-90 min
Participantsdifferent
4-12 BeobachtungenSmall cross-functional group3-62-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain PointsRisk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logHEART-GSM Table, DashboardConstraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries
Tagsno overlap
UX researchObservationContext
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
MetricsUX researchMeasurementSatisfaction
ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions
Add more methods