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| Criterion |  Operations Causal Factor Analysis |  Innovation Design Thinking |  Product Discovery Outcome-Driven Innovation |  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. | For complex user problems with an uncertain cause, the method connects observation, interpretation, and experiment into a learning cycle. It keeps the focus on real needs and avoids premature solution language. This produces robust decisions for product and service. | Outcome-Driven Innovation clarifies customer problems, solution opportunities, and evidence. It separates jobs, desired outcomes, importance, satisfaction, and opportunity, and captures results as desired outcome statements, an opportunity landscape, and segments by underserved needs. | 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 | High | High | Low |
Timedifferent | 2-6 h | 1 Tag bis mehrere Wochen | Mehrere Wochen | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 4-10 | 2-6 researchers plus sample | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Problem Statement, Prototype, Test Learnings | Desired outcome statements, Opportunity landscape, Segmentation by underserved needs, Innovation hypotheses | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | InnovationPrototypeResearch | OutcomesInnovationResearchQuantitative | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |