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| Criterion |  Facilitation Timeline |  Business Strategy TOWS Matrix |  Decision Making Constraint Analysis |  Facilitation Alignment Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a project, incident, or change process is only remembered in fragments, Timeline brings the sequence back into a readable form. It makes turning points, precursors, and after-effects recognizable over the course of time. | The TOWS Matrix connects internal strengths and weaknesses with external opportunities and threats into action-oriented strategies. It goes a step further than a pure stocktaking. | 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. | When several people work toward one goal but hold different mental maps, Alignment Mapping makes the discrepancies visible. It arranges goals, assumptions, and priorities so shared direction becomes verifiable. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 1-2 h | 30-90 min | 1-2 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-12 | 3-10 | 2-8 | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Timeline, Milestones, Insight Notes | TOWS Matrix, Strategic Options, Priority Actions | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries | Alignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions |
Tagsno overlap | TimelineFacilitationSequence | StrategyAnalysisOptions | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation |