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| Criterion |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |  Decision Making Constraint Analysis |  Decision Making Decision Tree |  Operations Root Cause Tree 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 an initiative stalls, the limit often lies not in the idea but in hard or soft boundary conditions. Constraint Analysis separates these limits and shows which of them can actually be shaped. | For decisions with follow-on paths and dependencies, a linear comparison is often not enough. A Decision Tree shows how options branch under conditions and which consequences hang on each branch. | For a problem with several suspected causes, the method builds a causal structure instead of a mere list. It makes visible how causes connect and where the strongest points of leverage lie. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30-60 min | 30-90 min | 30-90 min | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 2-8 | 1-6 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries | Decision Tree, Option Map, Assumption List | Cause Tree, Evidence Notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | Root causeQualityOperations | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | DecisionTreeOptions | Root causeTreeIncidentQuality |