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| Criterion |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |  Innovation Brainstorming |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|
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 a team faces an open question with many obvious directions, the method first creates breadth instead of premature commitment. It separates idea flow from evaluation and makes lines of thought visible, creating a pool for selection and further development. | 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. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-60 min | 30-60 min | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 4-12 | 2-6 |
Formatsame | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog | Idea pool, Theme clusters, Shortlist | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | Root causeQualityOperations | BrainstormingIdeationCreativityWorkshopDivergence | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |
Often compared together
Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.
