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| Criterion |  Operations Causal Factor Analysis |  Operations Barrier Analysis |  Product Discovery Test Card |
|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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 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. | The Test Card turns a critical assumption into a testable claim and specifies in advance which result counts as success. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 2-6 h | 2-4 h | 20-35 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 2-6 | 1-5 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog | Test Card with a pre-set threshold |
Tagsno overlap | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | Root causeSafetyIncident | ExperimentsValidationDiscoveryHypothesis |
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.
