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| Criterion |  Operations Theory of Constraints |  Agile Starfish Retrospective |  Agile 4Ls Retrospective |  Agile Mad Sad Glad |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For a system that does not get faster despite effort, the method directs attention to the bottleneck. It concentrates improvement on the point that actually limits throughput. | When improvement options need to be sorted more finely than just start and stop, it brings observations into clear kinds of action. This makes visible what should be done more, less, newly, or continued. | When a sprint should not only be assessed but also learned from, it captures experience in clear learning categories. It records what worked, what's missing, and what should run differently next time. | When a team's or workshop's mood needs to become readable, it structures emotional signals with little setup. It makes strain, relief, and sources of energy tangible. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 2-4 h Analyse, laufend | 45-90 min | 45–75 min | 30-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-12 | 4-12 | Team members involved | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Constraint Map, Improvement Plan, Flow Metrics | Starfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments | 4Ls Board, Learning Themes, Improvement Actions | Emotion Board, Themes, Action Items |
Tagsno overlap | OperationsConstraintsFlowImprovement | RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam | RetrospectiveLearningReflectionTeam | RetrospectiveTeamReflection |