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| Criterion | ![]() Facilitation Dot Estimation | ![]() Decision Making Trade-off Analysis | ![]() Product Discovery Assumption Mapping | ![]() Decision Making Decision Matrix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When size or effort can only be estimated roughly, Dot Estimation condenses the group's experience into a quick range. It turns individual contributions into a visible selection. The result is captured as an Effort Heatmap, Risk Signals, and Discussion Targets. | 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. | When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 5-20 min | 45-120 min | 45-60 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-20 | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Effort Heatmap, Risk Signals, Discussion Targets | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option |
Tagsno overlap | EstimationEffortRisk | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs |



