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| Criterion |  Operations Causal Factor Analysis |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  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. | In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and 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 | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 2-6 h | 20–45 min | 45-90 min | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | Small cross-functional group | 2-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |