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| Criterion |  Systems Thinking Evaporating Cloud |  Facilitation Stakeholder Mapping |  Agile Affinity Estimation |  Facilitation Alignment Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | The method makes visible why two seemingly incompatible demands arise and which assumption must be tested to resolve the conflict. | When an initiative depends on many people, interests, and power dynamics, Stakeholder Mapping systematically orders the environment. It shows who influences, who is affected, and where relationship management or safeguarding matters first. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 60-120 min | 60–90 min | 30-90 min | 1-2 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 2-8 | 3-12 | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Conflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next Experiments | Stakeholder Map, Engagement Plan, Risk Notes | Affinity Size Map, Grouped Estimates, Unclear Items | Alignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions |
Tagsno overlap | Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking | StakeholdersAlignmentFacilitationChange | EstimationBacklogRelative sizing | AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation |