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| Criterion |  Operations Causal Factor Analysis |  DevOps Blameless Postmortem |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | 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 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 | High | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 2-6 h | 30-90 min | 45-90 min | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 3-12 | 2-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Postmortem Doc, Action Items, Timeline | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | Site Reliability EngineeringIncidentLearningReliability | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |