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| Criterion |  Decision Making Decision Matrix |  Systems Thinking Future Reality Tree |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |  Systems Thinking Evaporating Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When several options collide with several criteria, comparison quickly becomes subjective. A Decision Matrix makes the trade-off visible and brings weighting, criteria, and options into a shared logic. | A Future Reality Tree shows how desired actions are meant to lead to a better system state. The method checks whether a path of change holds together logically before time flows into implementation. | With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects. | The method makes visible why two seemingly incompatible demands arise and which assumption must be tested to resolve the conflict. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | High | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 2-4 h | 45-120 min | 60-120 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 3-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option | Future Reality Tree, Negative Branches, Assumption List, Improved Injections | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides | Conflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next Experiments |
Tagsno overlap | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs | Theory of ConstraintsSystems thinkingChange | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions | Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking |