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| Criterion |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |  Knowledge Modeling Competency Questions |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |  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. | Competency Questions translate a domain model into concrete questions that it must be able to answer. The method keeps the model's scope clean and prevents pretty but useless structures. | 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. | 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 | Low | Medium | High | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-60 min | 2-4 h | 2-8 h | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog | Competency Question Set, Required Concepts, Test Queries, Coverage Matrix | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | Root causeQualityOperations | OntologyKnowledge graphScopeRequirementsSemantic | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |