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Criterion
Visual Management workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Operations
Visual Management
Paper illustration for Alignment Mapping.
Facilitation
Alignment Mapping
Paper illustration for Trade-off Analysis.
Decision Making
Trade-off Analysis
Paper illustration of a decision table with criteria rows, weighted ratings, and a narrowly leading alternative.
Decision Making
Decision Matrix
Purposedifferent
With high tempo and many parallel topics, the method makes status, deviations, and priorities visible at a glance. It reduces search effort and prevents what matters from getting lost in daily work.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.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumMediumMedium
Timedifferent
Ongoing1-2 h45-120 min45-90 min
Participantsdifferent
1-204-122-82-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Visual Board, Status Indicators, Exception CuesAlignment Map, Open Issues, Decision QuestionsTrade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted DownsidesDecision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option
Tagsno overlap
SignalsOperationsVisual management
AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation
TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions
DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs
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