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| Criterion |  Engineering Failure Scenario Analysis |  Operations Causal Factor Analysis |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | In critical processes, it is not enough to plan only for the normal case. Failure Scenario Analysis looks at the path into failure and shows which failures, chains, and control gaps cause the most damage. | 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. | 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. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | High | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | 2-6 h | 20–45 min | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | 3-10 | Small cross-functional group | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Failure Scenarios, Risk Notes, Control Gaps, Test and Response Actions | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | FailureResilienceRisk | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |