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| Criterion | ![]() DevOps Blameless Postmortem | ![]() Operations Gemba Walk | ![]() Operations 5 Whys | ![]() Operations Learning Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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 there is uncertainty about the real course of a process, the method brings observation to the place where work happens. It combines perception, follow-up questions, and process knowledge so decisions rest on actual workflows instead of assumptions. | 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. | After a project phase with mixed results, the method makes learning from the individual case reusable. It connects events, decisions, and systemic conditions into robust insights. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 30-120 min | 15-30 min | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | 3-12 | 2-6 | 2-6 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Postmortem Doc, Action Items, Timeline | Observation Notes, Improvement Ideas | Root cause notes, Countermeasures | Learning Review Notes, System Factors, Improvement Actions |
Tagsno overlap | Site Reliability EngineeringIncidentLearningReliability | LeanObservationProcessOperations | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving | LearningRetrospectiveIncidentOperations |



