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Criterion
Paper illustration for Contextual Inquiry.
UX Research
Contextual Inquiry
Paper illustration for Time Blocking
Operations
Time Blocking
Decision Tree method illustration showing its working structure
Decision Making
Decision Tree
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.With a calendar that grows on request, the method makes available time explicit again. It combines appointments, focus work, and buffer into a more realistic day structure.For decisions with follow-on paths and dependencies, a linear comparison is often not enough. A Decision Tree shows how options branch under conditions and which consequences hang on each branch.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
MediumLowMediumLow
Timedifferent
1-3 Wochen15-30 min Planung, laufend30-90 min20–45 min
Participantsdifferent
4-12 Beobachtungen11-6Small cross-functional group
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncAsyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain PointsBlocked Calendar, Capacity View, Focus PlanDecision Tree, Option Map, Assumption ListRisk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log
Tagsno overlap
UX researchObservationContext
PlanningTime managementFocus
DecisionTreeOptions
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
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