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| Criterion |  DevOps Blameless Postmortem |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  DevOps Incident Command |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 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. | During an acute incident with several people involved, the method creates a clear leadership and communication structure. It reduces chaos when fast coordination and clean situational awareness are both needed at once. | 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 | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 1-4 h | As needed | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-12 | 3-8 | 4-15 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Postmortem Doc, Action Items, Timeline | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Incident Log, Action Tracker, Stakeholder Updates | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tags1 shared | Site Reliability EngineeringIncidentLearningReliability | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | IncidentOperationsReliability | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |