This map does not tell you which method to use.
It tells you where a method stops working — and what happens when it is used outside its range.
From the inside, it looks like effort. From the outside, it's misalignment.
Every problem lives at a specific depth of the system. A method that reaches one level may be invisible — or harmful — at another.
Methods do different kinds of work. Diagnosing a system is not the same as resolving a contradiction — even at the same system level.
Methods are usually described from a single perspective:
their intended use.
StratoAtlas maps four.
The system level where practitioners naturally reach for this method.
The conditions where the method genuinely moves the system.
Visible outputs accumulate. The underlying problem remains.
Applied outside its operational zone, the method strengthens what it was meant to resolve.
Empty zones are intentional. They indicate areas where the field has not yet developed stable methods — not gaps in the catalog, but gaps in the discipline. These zones are part of the research program.
Scope
This map is currently shown on design and product methodologies. The underlying structure applies across other domains.
Where is your problem
on this map?