View methods side by side.
Choose up to four methods. Add them using the search and share the comparison by copying its link.
| Criterion |  Product Strategy GIST Planning |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Architecture SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method) |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | GIST Planning helps clarify target groups, value, goals, and priorities. It links customer value, product logic, and decision priorities, and captures the result as goals, an idea bank, and a step-project list. | 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. | SAAM helps teams judge an architecture’s suitability for selected tasks and changes. It is particularly useful for examining modifiability and comparing architecture alternatives with clear reasoning. | 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 | Medium | Medium | High | Low |
Timedifferent | Wochen bis Monate je Goal | 1-4 h | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 3-8 | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Goals, Idea bank, Step-project list, Tasks, Learning reports | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Domain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternatives | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | RoadmapOutcomesPlanningExperiments | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |