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| Criterion |  Systems Thinking Evaporating Cloud |  Innovation Brainstorming |  Systems Thinking Future Reality Tree |  Innovation Lotus Blossom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | The method makes visible why two seemingly incompatible demands arise and which assumption must be tested to resolve the conflict. | When a team faces an open question with many obvious directions, the method first creates breadth instead of premature commitment. It separates idea flow from evaluation and makes lines of thought visible, creating a pool for selection and further development. | 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. | When a central question feels too large, the method breaks it into neighboring topic fields with their own depth of ideation. It holds structure and openness at the same time, so adjacent perspectives don't get lost. This grows an idea space out of a core problem. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | High | Low |
Timedifferent | 60-120 min | 30-60 min | 2-4 h | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 4-12 | 3-8 | 3-10 |
Formatsame | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Conflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next Experiments | Idea pool, Theme clusters, Shortlist | Future Reality Tree, Negative Branches, Assumption List, Improved Injections | Lotus Diagram, Idea Themes, Shortlist |
Tagsno overlap | Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking | BrainstormingIdeationCreativityWorkshopDivergence | Theory of ConstraintsSystems thinkingChange | BrainstormingIdeationCreativityDivergenceWorkshop |