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| Criterion |  Systems Thinking Rich Picture |  Systems Thinking CATWOE Analysis |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Systems Thinking Evaporating Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | CATWOE structures a problem from six viewpoints and prevents too narrow a view of the situation. Different experiences of the system become comparably discussable this way. | 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. | The method makes visible why two seemingly incompatible demands arise and which assumption must be tested to resolve the conflict. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 45-90 min | 45-90 min | 60-120 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-10 | 3-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Rich Picture, Problem Framing Notes | CATWOE Canvas, Root Definition, Stakeholder Perspectives, Constraints | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Conflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next Experiments |
Tagsno overlap | Systems thinkingSoft systemsFramingVisualization | Systems thinkingFramingStakeholders | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking |