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Criterion	Operations Fishbone Diagram	UX Research Affinity Diagramming	UX Research Customer Journey Mapping	Operations Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Purposedifferent	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 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 user journey falls apart across many touchpoints, customer journey mapping makes the experience visible as a coherent arc. Phases, emotions, and breaks become legible enough to prioritize critical moments deliberately.	For a process, product, or service with noticeable failure risks, the method assesses possible failure modes in advance. It directs attention to combinations of occurrence, effect, and detectability.
Complexitydifferent	Low	Low	Medium	High
Timedifferent	30-60 min	45–90 min	2-4 h	2-6 h
Participantsdifferent	2-8	3-10	4-10	3-10
Formatsame	Workshop	Workshop	Workshop	Workshop
Outputdifferent	Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog	Theme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areas	Journey Map, Pain-point List, Opportunity Backlog	FMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions
Tagsno overlap	Root causeQualityOperations	SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause	JourneyServiceService design	RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause