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| Criterion | ![]() Systems Thinking Futures Wheel | ![]() Operations Theory of Constraints | ![]() Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree | ![]() 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. | 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. | A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once. | 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 | High | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 60-120 min | 2-4 h Analyse, laufend | 2-6 h | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 3-12 | 3-8 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Futures Wheel, Consequence Chains, Strategic Signals | Constraint Map, Improvement Plan, Flow Metrics | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas | Bottleneck Map, Flow Metrics, Improvement Options, Follow-up Measures |
Tagsno overlap | ForesightSystems thinkingSignals | OperationsConstraintsFlowImprovement | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality | FlowMeasurementConstraints |



