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| Criterion | ![]() UX Research Customer Journey Mapping | ![]() Operations Theory of Constraints | ![]() Operations Process Mapping | ![]() Operations After-Action Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | 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. | After missions or project phases with unclear outcomes, the method makes visible what actually happened and what can be learned from it. It separates course, effect, and causes so experience turns into solid improvement. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | High | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 2-4 h | 2-4 h Analyse, laufend | 1-3 h | 20-45 min |
Participantsdifferent | 4-10 | 3-12 | 3-10 | 3-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Journey Map, Pain-point List, Opportunity Backlog | Constraint Map, Improvement Plan, Flow Metrics | Process Map, Handoff List, Improvement Backlog | Lessons learned, Action items, Event summary |
Tagsno overlap | JourneyServiceService design | OperationsConstraintsFlowImprovement | ProcessOperationsImprovement | LearningOperationsImprovement |



