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| Criterion | ![]() Operations Causal Factor Analysis | ![]() Business Strategy Strategy Map | ![]() Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree | ![]() Operations Barrier Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | A Strategy Map translates strategy into a few connected objectives across perspectives such as finance, customers, processes, and learning. This makes visible which capabilities and activities are meant to drive which results. | A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Medium | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 2-6 h | 2-4 h workshop plus review | 2-6 h | 2-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 4-10 | 3-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Strategy Map, Objective Set, Cause-Effect Hypotheses | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog |
Tagsno overlap | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | AlignmentExecutionGoalsCausality | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality | Root causeSafetyIncident |



