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| Criterion |  Facilitation Mind Mapping |  Systems Thinking Evaporating Cloud |  Innovation Brainstorming |  Innovation Lotus Blossom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a topic is still unclear and too many thoughts surface at once, Mind Mapping creates an open surface for ordering them. It makes connections, subtopics, and starting points visible without fixing them too early. | The method makes visible why two seemingly incompatible demands arise and which assumption must be tested to resolve the conflict. | When a team faces an open question with many obvious directions, the method first creates breadth instead of premature commitment. It separates idea flow from evaluation and makes lines of thought visible, creating a pool for selection and further development. | When a central question feels too large, the method breaks it into neighboring topic fields with their own depth of ideation. It holds structure and openness at the same time, so adjacent perspectives don't get lost. This grows an idea space out of a core problem. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 15-45 min | 60-120 min | 30-60 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-10 | 2-8 | 4-12 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Mind Map, Topic Clusters, Open Questions | Conflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next Experiments | Idea pool, Theme clusters, Shortlist | Lotus Diagram, Idea Themes, Shortlist |
Tagsno overlap | BrainstormingIdeasMappingStructureFacilitation | Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking | BrainstormingIdeationCreativityWorkshopDivergence | BrainstormingIdeationCreativityDivergenceWorkshop |