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| Criterion |  UX Research Customer Journey Mapping |  Systems Thinking Systems Mapping |  Systems Thinking Future Reality Tree |
|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a user journey falls apart across many touchpoints, customer journey mapping makes the experience visible as a coherent arc. Phases, emotions, and breaks become legible enough to prioritize critical moments deliberately. | Systems Mapping arranges elements, relationships, and boundaries so a complex field becomes legible at a glance. The overview stabilizes the overall picture before detail work or steering begins. | A Future Reality Tree shows how desired actions are meant to lead to a better system state. The method checks whether a path of change holds together logically before time flows into implementation. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 2-4 h | 1-3 h | 2-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 4-10 | 3-12 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Journey Map, Pain-point List, Opportunity Backlog | System Map, Dependencies, Leverage Points | Future Reality Tree, Negative Branches, Assumption List, Improved Injections |
Tagsno overlap | JourneyServiceService design | Systems thinkingMappingBoundariesChange | Theory of ConstraintsSystems thinkingChange |
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.
