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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 Cynefin Workshop.
Decision Making
Cynefin Workshop
Paper illustration of Request for Comments (RFC) with its method-specific working model.
Architecture
Request for Comments
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 problems are unclear, chaotic, or only seemingly familiar, standard recipes fall short. A Cynefin Workshop sorts situations by the nature of their problem and connects them with matching action logic.An RFC clarifies architecture context, options, and consequences. It structures technical context, alternatives, tradeoffs, open questions, and review feedback, and captures the result as an RFC document, reviewer comments, and a decision rationale.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.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumMediumLow
Timedifferent
30–60 min per interview60-180 min1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung45-90 min
Participantsdifferent
1 participant per interview4-203-20 Reviewer2-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopAsyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Interview Notes, Themes, Insight SummaryCynefin Map, Domain-specific Actions, Sensemaking NotesRFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or ticketsAssumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan
Tagsno overlap
QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery
ComplexitySensemakingDecision
ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance
AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery
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