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| Criterion |  UX Design Customer Journey Canvas |  Operations 5 Whys |  UX Research Affinity Diagramming |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a journey needs to be understood across several phases, it arranges experience, touchpoints, and opportunities into one picture. It makes gaps and friction along the user path clear. | For a single, hard-to-explain deviation, the method exposes the causal chain behind the visible symptom. It keeps the cause open until a controllable condition emerges instead of a mere description. | When research notes, feedback, or observations sit unconnected side by side, affinity diagramming sorts the raw material into solid themes. Many individual points turn into patterns that make decisions and opportunities clearer. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | 15-30 min | 45–90 min | 1-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 2-6 | 3-10 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Customer Journey Canvas, Pain Points, Experience Opportunities | Root cause notes, Countermeasures | Theme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areas | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan |
Tagsno overlap | JourneyCustomerService designCanvas | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving | SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident |