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| Criterion |  Systems Thinking Futures Wheel |  Operations Process Mapping |  Operations Theory of Constraints |  Operations Bottleneck Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | The Futures Wheel helps explore the consequences of a decision, a trend, or a strategic move in a structured way. It makes visible which first, second, and third-order effects could arise from an event. | With a confusing workflow that has many handoffs, the method makes the actual process visible. It shows where work is passed on, delayed, or duplicated, so improvement targets the right spots. | For a system that does not get faster despite effort, the method directs attention to the bottleneck. It concentrates improvement on the point that actually limits throughput. | For a flow that backs up at one point, the method looks for the capacity limit with the greatest leverage. It explains why extra effort elsewhere barely improves throughput. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 60-120 min | 1-3 h | 2-4 h Analyse, laufend | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 3-10 | 3-12 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Futures Wheel, Consequence Chains, Strategic Signals | Process Map, Handoff List, Improvement Backlog | Constraint Map, Improvement Plan, Flow Metrics | Bottleneck Map, Flow Metrics, Improvement Options, Follow-up Measures |
Tagsno overlap | ForesightSystems thinkingSignals | ProcessOperationsImprovement | OperationsConstraintsFlowImprovement | FlowMeasurementConstraints |