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| Criterion | ![]() Facilitation Six Thinking Hats | ![]() Decision Making Decision Tree | ![]() Agile Bucket System | ![]() Agile Affinity Estimation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a topic gets stuck too quickly in the same thinking mode, Six Thinking Hats deliberately separates the perspectives. This means facts, risks, creativity, and emotional signals get worked through one after another instead of mixed together. | For decisions with follow-on paths and dependencies, a linear comparison is often not enough. A Decision Tree shows how options branch under conditions and which consequences hang on each branch. | When a large batch of work needs a fast, rough estimate, it sorts items into predefined size buckets. It sorts work by value, risk, and delivery ability. The result is captured as a Bucketed Backlog, Relative Estimates, and Split Candidates. | 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. |
Complexitysame | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 30-90 min | 30-90 min | 30-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 | 1-6 | 3-12 | 3-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Perspective Notes, Decision Inputs, Action Items | Decision Tree, Option Map, Assumption List | Bucketed Backlog, Relative Estimates, Split Candidates | Affinity Size Map, Grouped Estimates, Unclear Items |
Tagsno overlap | FacilitationOptionsDecision | DecisionTreeOptions | EstimationBacklogRelative sizing | EstimationBacklogRelative sizing |



