View methods side by side.
Choose up to four methods. Add them using the search and share the comparison by copying its link.
| Criterion | ![]() Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree | ![]() Operations Causal Factor Analysis | ![]() Agile Starfish Retrospective |
|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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 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. | When improvement options need to be sorted more finely than just start and stop, it brings observations into clear kinds of action. This makes visible what should be done more, less, newly, or continued. |
Complexitydifferent | High | High | Low |
Timedifferent | 2-6 h | 2-6 h | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | 3-10 | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Starfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments |
Tagsno overlap | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam |
Often compared together
Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.






