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Criterion
Design Thinking as a learning loop: an observation notebook, a focused problem statement, different idea sketches, a cardboard prototype and user-test notes. Feedback leads to new understanding.
Innovation
Design Thinking
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
A paper-based illustration representing Design Sprint with its core stages and visible working result.
Innovation
Design Sprint
Purposedifferent
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.Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it.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 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.
Complexitydifferent
HighLowLowHigh
Timedifferent
1 Tag bis mehrere Wochen45-90 min20–45 min4-5 Tage
Participantsdifferent
4-102-8Small cross-functional group5-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Problem Statement, Prototype, Test LearningsAssumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning PlanRisk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logPrototype, Test Findings, Decision Rationale
Tagsno overlap
InnovationPrototypeResearch
AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
Design sprintPrototypeValidationInnovation
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