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Criterion
Paper matrix with six colored hat cards for information, feeling, value, caution, ideas and process control.
Facilitation
Six Thinking Hats
Paper illustration for Kepner-Tregoe
Operations
Kepner-Tregoe
A3 Problem-Solving workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Operations
A3 Problem Solving
Paper illustration for Constraint Analysis.
Decision Making
Constraint Analysis
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 a disturbance that's hard to pin down, the method cleanly separates problem, cause, and decision. It reduces mixing when symptoms allow several interpretations.For a complex deviation with several people involved, the method bundles problem, analysis, and decision onto one page. It creates a shared working space where causes, countermeasures, and follow-up fit together.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
MediumHighMediumLow
Timedifferent
45-90 min2-8 h45-90 min30-90 min
Participantsdifferent
4-122-82-52-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Perspective Notes, Decision Inputs, Action ItemsProblem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk PlanA3 Report, Action Plan, Root Cause AnalysisConstraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries
Tagsno overlap
FacilitationOptionsDecision
Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations
LeanProblem solvingCoachingOperations
ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions
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