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| Criterion |  Innovation How Might We |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |  Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree |
|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | With a stuck problem carrying many implicit assumptions, the method translates observations into open, workable questions. It sharpens the problem frame without pre-thinking the solution, turning frustration or fuzziness into a search space with clear direction. | 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. | A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | High |
Timedifferent | 30–45 min | 30-60 min | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | 1-10 | 2-8 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | HMW Questions, Challenge Framing, Idea Prompts | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas |
Tagsno overlap | FramingOpportunityIdeationQuestions | Root causeQualityOperations | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality |
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