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| Criterion |  Operations After-Action Review |  DevOps Blameless Postmortem |  Agile Mad Sad Glad |  Agile 4Ls Retrospective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | After missions or project phases with unclear outcomes, the method makes visible what actually happened and what can be learned from it. It separates course, effect, and causes so experience turns into solid improvement. | After an incident with damage or a near miss, the method creates a sober field for learning without assigning blame. It directs attention to the course of events, conditions, and effective countermeasures. | When a team's or workshop's mood needs to become readable, it structures emotional signals with little setup. It makes strain, relief, and sources of energy tangible. | When a sprint should not only be assessed but also learned from, it captures experience in clear learning categories. It records what worked, what's missing, and what should run differently next time. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 20-45 min | 30-90 min | 30-60 min | 45–75 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-12 | 3-12 | 3-10 | Team members involved |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Lessons learned, Action items, Event summary | Postmortem Doc, Action Items, Timeline | Emotion Board, Themes, Action Items | 4Ls Board, Learning Themes, Improvement Actions |
Tagsno overlap | LearningOperationsImprovement | Site Reliability EngineeringIncidentLearningReliability | RetrospectiveTeamReflection | RetrospectiveLearningReflectionTeam |