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| Criterion |  Decision Making Constraint Analysis |  Operations Fault Tree Analysis |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Operations Barrier Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When an initiative stalls, the limit often lies not in the idea but in hard or soft boundary conditions. Constraint Analysis separates these limits and shows which of them can actually be shaped. | For a critical top event with several possible triggers, the method logically models failure paths. It makes visible which combinations of conditions can lead to damage. | 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. | 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 | Low | High | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 2-6 h | 20–45 min | 2-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 3-8 | Small cross-functional group | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries | Fault Tree, Critical Paths, Cause Hypotheses, Control Actions | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog |
Tagsno overlap | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | RiskRoot causeSafety | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | Root causeSafetyIncident |