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| Criterion |  Operations Gemba Walk |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  DevOps Blameless Postmortem |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When there is uncertainty about the real course of a process, the method brings observation to the place where work happens. It combines perception, follow-up questions, and process knowledge so decisions rest on actual workflows instead of assumptions. | When work processes are known only from accounts and the real context stays hidden, Contextual Inquiry makes behavior at the workplace visible. Observation and follow-up questions together show how people actually work, get interrupted, and improvise. | After an incident with damage or a near miss, the method creates a sober field for learning without assigning blame. It directs attention to the course of events, conditions, and effective countermeasures. | 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 | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-120 min | 1-3 Wochen | 30-90 min | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-6 | 4-12 Beobachtungen | 3-12 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Observation Notes, Improvement Ideas | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Postmortem Doc, Action Items, Timeline | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | LeanObservationProcessOperations | UX researchObservationContext | Site Reliability EngineeringIncidentLearningReliability | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |