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Criterion
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Paper illustration for Affinity Estimation.
Agile
Affinity Estimation
Paper illustration for Dot Estimation.
Facilitation
Dot Estimation
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing
Purposedifferent
In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures.When many tasks need to be classified quickly, it sorts them by perceived effort and similarity. It reduces the effort of fine-grained estimation for large volumes.When size or effort can only be estimated roughly, Dot Estimation condenses the group's experience into a quick range. It turns individual contributions into a visible selection. The result is captured as an Effort Heatmap, Risk Signals, and Discussion Targets.Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumLowLow
Timedifferent
20–45 min30-90 min5-20 min45-90 min
Participantsdifferent
Small cross-functional group3-123-202-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshopWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logAffinity Size Map, Grouped Estimates, Unclear ItemsEffort Heatmap, Risk Signals, Discussion TargetsAssumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan
Tagsno overlap
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
EstimationBacklogRelative sizing
EstimationEffortRisk
AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery
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