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| Criterion | ![]() Delivery Value Stream Mapping | ![]() Operations Waste Analysis | ![]() Product Discovery Smoke Test | ![]() Product Discovery Assumption Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When delivery work dissolves into wait times, handoffs, and hidden effort, Value Stream Mapping makes the actual flow visible. The method exposes bottlenecks, idle time, and feedback loops so lead time and improvement levers become tangible. | For a process that keeps people busy but creates little value, the method exposes waste. It directs attention to unnecessary movement, waiting times, rework, and overdelivery. | When demand only needs to be roughly verified, it tests interest with minimal effort. It measures whether people would take a next step at all. | When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | 45-120 min | 1-5 Tage | 45-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 4-10 | 2-8 | Nutzertraffic | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Current-state map, Future-state map, Bottleneck list | Waste Map, Prioritized Waste, Improvement Backlog | Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking |
Tagsno overlap | LeanFlowWasteDelivery | WasteLeanProcess improvement | ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation |



