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Criterion
Paper fishbone diagram with a measurable effect at the head and six labeled cause branches.
Operations
Fishbone Diagram
Paper illustration for Current Reality Tree
Systems Thinking
Current Reality Tree
Paper illustration for Behavior Over Time Graph.
Systems Thinking
Behavior Over Time Graph
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.A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once.A Behavior Over Time Graph shows how a metric or observation develops over time. The method makes trends, breaks, and recurring patterns visible that get lost in snapshots.
Complexitydifferent
LowHighLow
Timedifferent
30-60 min2-6 h20-45 min
Participantsdifferent
2-83-81-10
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation BacklogCurrent Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention IdeasBehavior Over Time Graph, Trend Hypotheses, Key Events
Tagsno overlap
Root causeQualityOperations
Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality
Systems thinkingPatternsDynamics
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Causal Loop Diagram workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Systems Thinking
Causal Loop Diagram
Paper illustration for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Operations
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Iceberg Model method illustration showing its working structure
Systems Thinking
Iceberg Model
Paper illustration of System Archetypes with its method-specific working model.
Systems Thinking
System Archetypes