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