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Criterion	Architecture Architecture Decision Record	Operations Fishbone Diagram	DevOps Incident Command	Operations Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Purposedifferent	An ADR permanently records an architecture decision with context, trade-offs, and consequence. It creates continuity for later changes because the decision path stays traceable.	When a problem has several possible contributing factors, the method sorts causes by cause areas. It prevents an initial hunch from blocking the view of other plausible drivers.	During an acute incident with several people involved, the method creates a clear leadership and communication structure. It reduces chaos when fast coordination and clean situational awareness are both needed at once.	For a process, product, or service with noticeable failure risks, the method assesses possible failure modes in advance. It directs attention to combinations of occurrence, effect, and detectability.
Complexitydifferent	Low	Low	Medium	High
Timedifferent	15-45 min	30-60 min	As needed	2-6 h
Participantsdifferent	1-3	2-8	4-15	3-10
Formatdifferent	Async	Workshop	Workshop + async	Workshop
Outputdifferent	ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale	Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog	Incident Log, Action Tracker, Stakeholder Updates	FMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions
Tagsno overlap	ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance	Root causeQualityOperations	IncidentOperationsReliability	RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause