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| Criterion |  Operations Failure Mode and Effects Analysis |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | 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. | When a problem keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another. |
Complexitydifferent | High | High | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 2-6 h | 2-8 h | 45-90 min | 1-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 2-8 | 2-8 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | FMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan |
Tagsno overlap | RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident |