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| Criterion |  Decision Making Constraint Analysis |  Operations Fault Tree Analysis |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | Low | High |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 2-6 h | 20–45 min | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 3-8 | Small cross-functional group | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
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 | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas |
Tagsno overlap | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | RiskRoot causeSafety | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality |