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| Criterion |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |  Facilitation Alignment Mapping |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |  Facilitation Decision Jam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 several people work toward one goal but hold different mental maps, Alignment Mapping makes the discrepancies visible. It arranges goals, assumptions, and priorities so shared direction becomes verifiable. | 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. | When a decision is stuck, Decision Jam loosens the knot through structured separation of problem, idea, and selection. The format creates movement without jumping prematurely at the first seemingly elegant answer. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | High | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-60 min | 1-2 h | 2-8 h | 60-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 4-12 | 2-8 | 4-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog | Alignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | Problem Cluster, Prioritized Challenge, Experiment |
Tagsno overlap | Root causeQualityOperations | AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | FacilitationDecisionProblem solvingWorkshop |