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| Criterion |  Engineering Hypothesis-Driven Troubleshooting |  Operations Barrier Analysis |  Operations Family Tree Analysis |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | For a risk that can only be managed through multiple layers of protection, the method examines the effectiveness of each barrier. It shows where safeguards are missing, too weak, or fail under real conditions. | For a series of incidents with a similar pattern, the method arranges individual events as branches of a common origin. It makes visible which conditions keep recurring. | 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. |
Complexitysame | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30-240 min | 2-4 h | 2-4 h | 1-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 1-6 | 2-6 | 2-6 | 3-8 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Hypothesis Log, Test Plan, Evidence Notes, Diagnosis Summary | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog | Family Tree Diagram, Pattern Notes, Systemic Measures | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan |
Tagsno overlap | TroubleshootingProblem solvingDiagnosis | Root causeSafetyIncident | Root causePatternsIncidentSystemic | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident |