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| Criterion |  Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Decision Making Constraint Analysis |  Operations Causal Factor Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | When a problem keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another. | 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 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. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Medium | Low | High |
Timedifferent | 2-6 h | 1-4 h | 30-90 min | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | 3-8 | 2-8 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions |
Tagsno overlap | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline |