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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 a branching impact map with a Why goal at the root, actor circles, How behavior changes and What options.
Product Strategy
Impact Mapping
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.When a goal needs to be connected to several possible paths, it shows chains of impact instead of feature lists. It connects business goal, behavior change, and measures.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 min45-90 min30-90 min
Participantsdifferent
4-12 BeobachtungenSmall cross-functional group3-82-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain PointsRisk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logImpact Map, Outcome Hypotheses, Delivery OptionsConstraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries
Tagsno overlap
UX researchObservationContext
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
OutcomesStrategyBehaviorPlanning
ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions
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