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| Criterion |  Operations Barrier Analysis |  Product Discovery Smoke Test |  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. | When demand only needs to be roughly verified, it tests interest with minimal effort. It measures whether people would take a next step at all. | 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 | Low |
Timedifferent | 2-4 h | 1-5 Tage | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-6 | Nutzertraffic | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog | Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | Root causeSafetyIncident | ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.
