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| Criterion |  Systems Thinking Evaporating Cloud |  Decision Making Decision Matrix |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | The method makes visible why two seemingly incompatible demands arise and which assumption must be tested to resolve the conflict. | 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. | 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. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 60-120 min | 45-90 min | 45-90 min | 45-120 min |
Participantssame | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Conflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next Experiments | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides |
Tagsno overlap | Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions |