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| Criterion |  Operations Barrier Analysis |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Decision Making Red Teaming |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | 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. | For strategic decisions with high reach, agreement and gut feeling are often not enough. Red teaming brings deliberate opposition into the situation and tests where a plan breaks under real counterarguments. | For a single, hard-to-explain deviation, the method exposes the causal chain behind the visible symptom. It keeps the cause open until a controllable condition emerges instead of a mere description. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | High | Low |
Timedifferent | 2-4 h | 45-90 min | 1-4 h | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-6 | 2-8 | 3-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Challenge Findings, Risk Register, Mitigation Plan | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | Root causeSafetyIncident | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | RiskDecisionSensemaking | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |