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| Criterion |  Agile Affinity Estimation |  Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Operations 8D Problem Solving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When many tasks need to be classified quickly, it sorts them by perceived effort and similarity. It reduces the effort of fine-grained estimation for large volumes. | A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once. | When a problem keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another. | For an acute quality or delivery problem, the method structures immediate protection and root cause work together. It keeps the situation stable while the actual cause is investigated cleanly. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | High | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 2-6 h | 1-4 h | 1-6 Wochen |
Participantsdifferent | 3-12 | 3-8 | 3-8 | 4-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Affinity Size Map, Grouped Estimates, Unclear Items | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | 8D Report, Containment Plan, Root Cause Evidence, Corrective Action Plan |
Tagsno overlap | EstimationBacklogRelative sizing | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | QualityProblem solvingRoot cause |