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| Criterion | ![]() Operations Failure Mode and Effects Analysis | ![]() Decision Making Assumption Surfacing | ![]() Systems Thinking Evaporating Cloud | ![]() Operations Fishbone Diagram |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For a process, product, or service with noticeable failure risks, the method assesses possible failure modes in advance. It directs attention to combinations of occurrence, effect, and detectability. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. | The method makes visible why two seemingly incompatible demands arise and which assumption must be tested to resolve the conflict. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Low | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 2-6 h | 45-90 min | 60-120 min | 30-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | FMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Conflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next Experiments | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog |
Tagsno overlap | RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking | Root causeQualityOperations |



