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Criterion
A 5 Whys working surface connects an observable problem with evidenced causes, marked uncertainty and concrete countermeasures with ownership.
Operations
5 Whys
Paper illustration for Sailboat Retrospective
Agile
Sailboat Retrospective
Paper illustration for Starfish Retrospective
Agile
Starfish Retrospective
Purposedifferent
For a single, hard-to-explain deviation, the method exposes the causal chain behind the visible symptom. It keeps the cause open until a controllable condition emerges instead of a mere description.When a team wants to read momentum, brakes, and risks together, it offers an easily understandable picture of the situation. It makes drive, obstacles, and headwind visible in the same picture.When improvement options need to be sorted more finely than just start and stop, it brings observations into clear kinds of action. This makes visible what should be done more, less, newly, or continued.
Complexitysame
LowLowLow
Timedifferent
15-30 min45-90 min45-90 min
Participantsdifferent
2-64-124-12
Formatsame
WorkshopWorkshopWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Root cause notes, CountermeasuresSailboat Board, Risks, Improvement ActionsStarfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments
Tagsno overlap
Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving
RetrospectiveTeamImprovement
RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration for Root Cause Analysis.
Operations
Root Cause Analysis
Paper illustration of a team retrospective with three separate Start, Stop, and Continue areas and a shared action list.
Agile
Start Stop Continue
A structured reflection surfaces what was liked, learned, lacked, and longed for. It is a conversation format and does not validate actions automatically.
Agile
4Ls Retrospective
Paper illustration for 8D Problem Solving.
Operations
8D Problem Solving