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Criterion
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing
Paper illustration for Failure Scenario Analysis.
Engineering
Failure Scenario Analysis
Paper illustration for Constraint Analysis.
Decision Making
Constraint Analysis
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.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.In critical processes, it is not enough to plan only for the normal case. Failure Scenario Analysis looks at the path into failure and shows which failures, chains, and control gaps cause the most damage.When an initiative stalls, the limit often lies not in the idea but in hard or soft boundary conditions. Constraint Analysis separates these limits and shows which of them can actually be shaped.
Complexitydifferent
LowLowMediumLow
Timedifferent
20–45 min45-90 min1-3 h30-90 min
Participantsdifferent
Small cross-functional group2-83-82-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logAssumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning PlanFailure Scenarios, Risk Notes, Control Gaps, Test and Response ActionsConstraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries
Tagsno overlap
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery
FailureResilienceRisk
ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions
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