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| Criterion |  Innovation Design Sprint |  Innovation Design Thinking |  Product Discovery Smoke Test |  Product Discovery Assumption Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When the product question is unclear and time pressure is high, the method takes a team from an open idea to a testable solution. It connects problem understanding, decision, and learning in one compact format, lowering the risk of spending a lot of energy on a mere guess. | For complex user problems with an uncertain cause, the method connects observation, interpretation, and experiment into a learning cycle. It keeps the focus on real needs and avoids premature solution language. This produces robust decisions for product and service. | When demand only needs to be roughly verified, it tests interest with minimal effort. It measures whether people would take a next step at all. | When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. |
Complexitydifferent | High | High | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 4-5 Tage | 1 Tag bis mehrere Wochen | 1-5 Tage | 45-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 5-8 | 4-10 | Nutzertraffic | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Prototype, Test Findings, Decision Rationale | Problem Statement, Prototype, Test Learnings | Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking |
Tagsno overlap | Design sprintPrototypeValidationInnovation | InnovationPrototypeResearch | ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation |