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| Criterion |  Engineering Hypothesis-Driven Troubleshooting |  Operations After-Action Review |  Operations A3 Problem Solving |  Engineering Fault Isolation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When systems fail unexpectedly, spontaneous attempts often produce more noise than insight. Hypothesis-driven Troubleshooting translates symptoms into testable assumptions and makes troubleshooting learnable. | 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. | For a complex deviation with several people involved, the method bundles problem, analysis, and decision onto one page. It creates a shared working space where causes, countermeasures, and follow-up fit together. | In technical failures, the visible symptom often gets mixed up with the actual cause. Fault Isolation narrows the fault space and progressively reduces which part of the system is truly affected. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30-240 min | 20-45 min | 45-90 min | 30-180 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-6 | 3-12 | 2-5 | 1-6 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Hypothesis Log, Test Plan, Evidence Notes, Diagnosis Summary | Lessons learned, Action items, Event summary | A3 Report, Action Plan, Root Cause Analysis | Fault Isolation Map, Test Log, Excluded Hypotheses, Narrowed Fault Area |
Tagsno overlap | TroubleshootingProblem solvingDiagnosis | LearningOperationsImprovement | LeanProblem solvingCoachingOperations | TroubleshootingDiagnosisEngineering |