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Criterion
Paper illustration of two people facing each other, speech bubbles and an open interview notebook.
UX Research
User Interviews
Paper illustration for Constraint Analysis.
Decision Making
Constraint Analysis
Affinity Diagramming
UX Research
Affinity Diagramming
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing
Purposedifferent
When teams derive needs only from assumptions and real motives are missing, user interviews give direct access to behavior and meaning. Conversations from the target group's everyday life make patterns, tensions, and open questions solidly visible.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 research notes, feedback, or observations sit unconnected side by side, affinity diagramming sorts the raw material into solid themes. Many individual points turn into patterns that make decisions and opportunities clearer.Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it.
Complexitysame
LowLowLowLow
Timedifferent
30–60 min per interview30-90 min45–90 min45-90 min
Participantsdifferent
1 participant per interview2-83-102-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Interview Notes, Themes, Insight SummaryConstraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision BoundariesTheme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areasAssumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan
Tagsno overlap
QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery
ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions
SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause
AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery
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