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Criterion
Rich Picture workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Systems Thinking
Rich Picture
Paper illustration for Trade-off Analysis.
Decision Making
Trade-off Analysis
Paper illustration for Current Reality Tree
Systems Thinking
Current Reality Tree
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.With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects.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
LowMediumHigh
Timedifferent
30-90 min45-120 min2-6 h
Participantsdifferent
2-102-83-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Rich Picture, Problem Framing NotesTrade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted DownsidesCurrent Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas
Tagsno overlap
Systems thinkingSoft systemsFramingVisualization
TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions
Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration for Constraint Analysis.
Decision Making
Constraint Analysis
Paper illustration of a decision table with criteria rows, weighted ratings, and a narrowly leading alternative.
Decision Making
Decision Matrix
Paper illustration for Theory of Constraints Thinking Process.
Systems Thinking
Theory of Constraints Thinking Process
Paper illustration for CATWOE Analysis.
Systems Thinking
CATWOE Analysis