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Criterion
How Might We
Innovation
How Might We
Rich Picture workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Systems Thinking
Rich Picture
Paper illustration of Request for Comments (RFC) with its method-specific working model.
Architecture
Request for Comments
Paper illustration for CATWOE Analysis.
Systems Thinking
CATWOE Analysis
Purposedifferent
With a stuck problem carrying many implicit assumptions, the method translates observations into open, workable questions. It sharpens the problem frame without pre-thinking the solution, turning frustration or fuzziness into a search space with clear direction.A Rich Picture brings an unclear situation onto a shared drawing. It captures actors, tensions, information flows, and blind spots before the team jumps to solutions too early.An RFC clarifies architecture context, options, and consequences. It structures technical context, alternatives, tradeoffs, open questions, and review feedback, and captures the result as an RFC document, reviewer comments, and a decision rationale.CATWOE structures a problem from six viewpoints and prevents too narrow a view of the situation. Different experiences of the system become comparably discussable this way.
Complexitydifferent
LowLowMediumMedium
Timedifferent
30–45 min30-90 min1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung45-90 min
Participantsdifferent
1-102-103-20 Reviewer3-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopAsyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
HMW Questions, Challenge Framing, Idea PromptsRich Picture, Problem Framing NotesRFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or ticketsCATWOE Canvas, Root Definition, Stakeholder Perspectives, Constraints
Tagsno overlap
FramingOpportunityIdeationQuestions
Systems thinkingSoft systemsFramingVisualization
ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance
Systems thinkingFramingStakeholders
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