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| Criterion |  Operations Gemba Walk |  Engineering Kanban |  Operations After-Action Review |  Delivery Value Stream Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 sits in too many parallel streams, throughput suffers and no one sees the bottlenecks. Kanban makes the flow of work visible and limits overload so a system becomes calmer and more predictable. | After missions or project phases with unclear outcomes, the method makes visible what actually happened and what can be learned from it. It separates course, effect, and causes so experience turns into solid improvement. | When delivery work dissolves into wait times, handoffs, and hidden effort, Value Stream Mapping makes the actual flow visible. The method exposes bottlenecks, idle time, and feedback loops so lead time and improvement levers become tangible. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30-120 min | Ongoing | 20-45 min | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-6 | 2-12 | 3-12 | 4-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Observation Notes, Improvement Ideas | Kanban board, WIP policies, Flow metrics | Lessons learned, Action items, Event summary | Current-state map, Future-state map, Bottleneck list |
Tagsno overlap | LeanObservationProcessOperations | FlowVisual managementDelivery | LearningOperationsImprovement | LeanFlowWasteDelivery |