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| Criterion |  Systems Thinking Systems Mapping |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Decision Making Constraint Analysis |  Decision Making Decision Tree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | Systems Mapping arranges elements, relationships, and boundaries so a complex field becomes legible at a glance. The overview stabilizes the overall picture before detail work or steering begins. | In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures. | 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. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | 20–45 min | 30-90 min | 30-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-12 | Small cross-functional group | 2-8 | 1-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | System Map, Dependencies, Leverage Points | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries | Decision Tree, Option Map, Assumption List |
Tagsno overlap | Systems thinkingMappingBoundariesChange | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | DecisionTreeOptions |