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| Criterion |  Innovation Lean Startup |  Engineering Golden Path |  Product Discovery Riskiest Assumption Test |  Product Discovery Fake Door Test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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 teams need a reliable default path for frequent use, sprawl quickly emerges without any guiding logic. Golden Path bundles the preferred path so good practice becomes easy and deviation becomes deliberate. | When an idea hinges on one critical unknown, it prioritizes testing that exact piece of uncertainty first. It separates problem, assumption, solution, and evidence. The result is captured as a prioritized list of assumptions, a test plan, and a result report. | When demand is still unclear, it measures interest in a feature before it is built. It separates real behavior from polite agreement and deliberately keeps build effort small. |
Complexitysame | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | Wochen bis Monate je Lernzyklus | 1-3 Tage Setup, laufend | 1-2 Wochen pro Iteration | 1-5 Tage |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-6 | Nutzertraffic |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Async |
Outputdifferent | Hypothesis list, MVPs, Learning reports, Pivot or persevere decision | Golden Path Guide, Templates, Quality Checks | Prioritized Assumption List, Test Plan, Results Report | Click Data, Interest Signal, Learning Decision |
Tagsno overlap | LeanStartupValidationMVP | EngineeringProductivityGovernance | ExperimentsValidationDiscoveryAssumptions | ValidationExperimentsDemandDiscovery |