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Criterion
Paper illustration for Contextual Inquiry.
UX Research
Contextual Inquiry
Paper illustration of Shape Up with its method-specific working model.
Delivery
Shape Up
Paper illustration for Constraint Analysis.
Decision Making
Constraint Analysis
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
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.Shape Up helps clarify scope, sequence, and delivery flow. It makes work boundaries and decisions explicit and captures results as pitches, bet-table decisions, and hill charts.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.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.
Complexitydifferent
MediumMediumLowLow
Timedifferent
1-3 Wochen6 Wochen Cycle + 2 Wochen Cool-Down30-90 min20–45 min
Participantsdifferent
4-12 Beobachtungen2-4 pro Pitch2-8Small cross-functional group
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain PointsPitches, Bet-table decisions, Hill charts, Cooldown outcomesConstraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision BoundariesRisk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log
Tagsno overlap
UX researchObservationContext
PlanningDeliveryAutonomy
ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
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