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Criterion
Paper illustration of a Polarity Map with two poles and four quadrants
Systems Thinking
Polarity Mapping
The Scrum Team inspects people, interactions, processes, tools, and the Definition of Done, then agrees on a few testable improvements.
Agile
Sprint Retrospective
Paper illustration for Bottleneck Analysis.
Operations
Bottleneck Analysis
Paper illustration for Current Reality Tree
Systems Thinking
Current Reality Tree
Purposedifferent
Polarity Mapping makes tensions between two opposing poles tangible, such as standardization and adaptation or control and autonomy. The method guards against making apparent either-or decisions prematurely.When a sprint is over and friction shouldn't simply be carried forward, it opens the view onto collaboration and patterns. It creates space to see causes and changes together.For a flow that backs up at one point, the method looks for the capacity limit with the greatest leverage. It explains why extra effort elsewhere barely improves throughput.A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once.
Complexitydifferent
MediumLowMediumHigh
Timedifferent
1-2 hUp to 3 hours for a one-month Sprint; shorter Sprints are usually shorter1-3 h2-6 h
Participantsdifferent
3-12Scrum Team3-83-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Polarity Map, Warning Signs, Balance ActionsImprovement actions, Team agreementsBottleneck Map, Flow Metrics, Improvement Options, Follow-up MeasuresCurrent Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas
Tagsno overlap
Systems thinkingTradeoffsLeadership
RetrospectiveImprovementLearning
FlowMeasurementConstraints
Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality
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