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| Criterion |  Innovation Lean Startup |  Engineering Golden Path |  Product Discovery Smoke 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 demand only needs to be roughly verified, it tests interest with minimal effort. It measures whether people would take a next step at all. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | Wochen bis Monate je Lernzyklus | 1-3 Tage Setup, laufend | 1-5 Tage |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 2-8 | Nutzertraffic |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Async |
Outputdifferent | Hypothesis list, MVPs, Learning reports, Pivot or persevere decision | Golden Path Guide, Templates, Quality Checks | Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note |
Tagsno overlap | LeanStartupValidationMVP | EngineeringProductivityGovernance | ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth |
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