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| Criterion |  Systems Thinking Evaporating Cloud |  Agile Affinity Estimation |  Facilitation Alignment Mapping |  Agile Bucket System |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | The method makes visible why two seemingly incompatible demands arise and which assumption must be tested to resolve the conflict. | When many tasks need to be classified quickly, it sorts them by perceived effort and similarity. It reduces the effort of fine-grained estimation for large volumes. | When several people work toward one goal but hold different mental maps, Alignment Mapping makes the discrepancies visible. It arranges goals, assumptions, and priorities so shared direction becomes verifiable. | When a large batch of work needs a fast, rough estimate, it sorts items into predefined size buckets. It sorts work by value, risk, and delivery ability. The result is captured as a Bucketed Backlog, Relative Estimates, and Split Candidates. |
Complexitysame | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 60-120 min | 30-90 min | 1-2 h | 30-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 3-12 | 4-12 | 3-12 |
Formatsame | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Conflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next Experiments | Affinity Size Map, Grouped Estimates, Unclear Items | Alignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions | Bucketed Backlog, Relative Estimates, Split Candidates |
Tagsno overlap | Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking | EstimationBacklogRelative sizing | AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation | EstimationBacklogRelative sizing |