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| Criterion |  Business Strategy TOWS Matrix |  Facilitation Alignment Mapping |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |  Decision Making Decision Matrix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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 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. | With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects. | When several options collide with several criteria, comparison quickly becomes subjective. A Decision Matrix makes the trade-off visible and brings weighting, criteria, and options into a shared logic. |
Complexitysame | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-2 h | 1-2 h | 45-120 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 4-12 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | TOWS Matrix, Strategic Options, Priority Actions | Alignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option |
Tagsno overlap | StrategyAnalysisOptions | AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs |