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| Criterion |  Operations Kaizen Event |  Innovation Lean Startup |  Product Discovery Smoke Test |  Product Discovery Pretotyping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For a tightly scoped process segment with noticeable waste, the method bundles shared energy for change. It suits situations that call for fast learning loops and visible adjustments. | For uncertain business assumptions, the method forces the idea into contact with real market reactions early. It separates wishful picture, assumption, and observable behavior, so that learning becomes faster than planning. This translates uncertainty into measurable insight. | When demand only needs to be roughly verified, it tests interest with minimal effort. It measures whether people would take a next step at all. | Pretotyping clarifies whether a customer problem and solution idea create enough real demand. It separates problem, assumption, solution, and evidence, and captures the result as a pretotyping sketch, test setup, and conversion data. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 0.5-5 Tage | Wochen bis Monate je Lernzyklus | 1-5 Tage | Stunden bis wenige Tage |
Participantsdifferent | 4-10 | 2-8 | Nutzertraffic | 1-4 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Kaizen Charter, Waste List, Improvement Experiments, Standard Work Update | Hypothesis list, MVPs, Learning reports, Pivot or persevere decision | Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note | Pretotyping sketch, Test setup, Conversion data, Go or no-go decision |
Tagsno overlap | LeanContinuous improvementOperations | LeanStartupValidationMVP | ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth | ValidationDemandMVP |