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| Criterion |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Operations Causal Factor Analysis |  Operations 8D Problem Solving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. | 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 event with a complicated course, the method breaks down the contributing factors along the timeline. It shows how conditions, decisions, and reactions together produce a course of events. | 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 | Low | Medium | High | High |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 1-4 h | 2-6 h | 1-6 Wochen |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 3-8 | 3-10 | 4-10 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | 8D Report, Containment Plan, Root Cause Evidence, Corrective Action Plan |
Tagsno overlap | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | QualityProblem solvingRoot cause |