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| Criterion |  Operations PDCA Cycle |  Product Discovery Outcome-Driven Innovation |  Operations Gemba Walk |  Innovation Design Thinking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For an improvement that still has to prove itself in everyday work, the method runs it through small learning loops. It connects planning, checking, and standardization into a repeatable learning mode. | Outcome-Driven Innovation clarifies customer problems, solution opportunities, and evidence. It separates jobs, desired outcomes, importance, satisfaction, and opportunity, and captures results as desired outcome statements, an opportunity landscape, and segments by underserved needs. | When there is uncertainty about the real course of a process, the method brings observation to the place where work happens. It combines perception, follow-up questions, and process knowledge so decisions rest on actual workflows instead of assumptions. | For complex user problems with an uncertain cause, the method connects observation, interpretation, and experiment into a learning cycle. It keeps the focus on real needs and avoids premature solution language. This produces robust decisions for product and service. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | Low | High |
Timedifferent | 1 h bis mehrere Wochen | Mehrere Wochen | 30-120 min | 1 Tag bis mehrere Wochen |
Participantsdifferent | 1-8 | 2-6 researchers plus sample | 2-6 | 4-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | PDCA Log, Experiment Plan, Learning Outcome, Standard Change | Desired outcome statements, Opportunity landscape, Segmentation by underserved needs, Innovation hypotheses | Observation Notes, Improvement Ideas | Problem Statement, Prototype, Test Learnings |
Tagsno overlap | Continuous improvementLeanExperiments | OutcomesInnovationResearchQuantitative | LeanObservationProcessOperations | InnovationPrototypeResearch |