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Criterion
Rich Picture workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Systems Thinking
Rich Picture
Paper illustration for Argument Mapping
Decision Making
Argument Mapping
Paper illustration for Causal Factor Analysis.
Operations
Causal Factor Analysis
Purposedifferent
A Rich Picture brings an unclear situation onto a shared drawing. It captures actors, tensions, information flows, and blind spots before the team jumps to solutions too early.When statements, evidence, and counterarguments get mixed up, a debate quickly loses its structure. Argument Mapping breaks a thesis down into its reasoning and makes visible what it really rests on.For an event with a complicated course, the method breaks down the contributing factors along the timeline. It shows how conditions, decisions, and reactions together produce a course of events.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumHigh
Timedifferent
30-90 min1-3 h2-6 h
Participantsdifferent
2-101-83-10
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Rich Picture, Problem Framing NotesArgument Map, Evidence Gaps, Decision RationaleEvent Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions
Tagsno overlap
Systems thinkingSoft systemsFramingVisualization
SensemakingDecisionRationale
CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration for Current Reality Tree
Systems Thinking
Current Reality Tree
Paper illustration for Soft Systems Methodology.
Systems Thinking
Soft Systems Methodology
Paper illustration of Barrier Analysis with its method-specific working model.
Operations
Barrier Analysis