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| Criterion |  Product Discovery Assumption Mapping |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Operations Fault Tree Analysis |  Operations Barrier Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. | 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 a critical top event with several possible triggers, the method logically models failure paths. It makes visible which combinations of conditions can lead to damage. | For a risk that can only be managed through multiple layers of protection, the method examines the effectiveness of each barrier. It shows where safeguards are missing, too weak, or fail under real conditions. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 45-60 min | 1-4 h | 2-6 h | 2-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 3-8 | 3-8 | 2-6 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Fault Tree, Critical Paths, Cause Hypotheses, Control Actions | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog |
Tagsno overlap | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | RiskRoot causeSafety | Root causeSafetyIncident |