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| Criterion |  Decision Making Decision Tree |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |  Decision Making Constraint Analysis |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For decisions with follow-on paths and dependencies, a linear comparison is often not enough. A Decision Tree shows how options branch under conditions and which consequences hang on each branch. | When a problem has several possible contributing factors, the method sorts causes by cause areas. It prevents an initial hunch from blocking the view of other plausible drivers. | 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 disturbance that's hard to pin down, the method cleanly separates problem, cause, and decision. It reduces mixing when symptoms allow several interpretations. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | High |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 30-60 min | 30-90 min | 2-8 h |
Participantsdifferent | 1-6 | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Decision Tree, Option Map, Assumption List | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan |
Tagsno overlap | DecisionTreeOptions | Root causeQualityOperations | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations |