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| Criterion |  Engineering Hypothesis-Driven Troubleshooting |  Engineering Fault Isolation |  Innovation Brainstorming |  Innovation Reverse Brainstorming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | When a team faces an open question with many obvious directions, the method first creates breadth instead of premature commitment. It separates idea flow from evaluation and makes lines of thought visible, creating a pool for selection and further development. | For persistent errors or blockages, the method shifts the view to the opposite of the desired effect. It exposes the mechanics of failure and makes hidden causes easier to grasp. This makes improvement more concrete and the problem clearer. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-240 min | 30-180 min | 30-60 min | 30-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-6 | 1-6 | 4-12 | 3-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Hypothesis Log, Test Plan, Evidence Notes, Diagnosis Summary | Fault Isolation Map, Test Log, Excluded Hypotheses, Narrowed Fault Area | Idea pool, Theme clusters, Shortlist | Reverse Ideas, Risk Themes, Solution Ideas |
Tagsno overlap | TroubleshootingProblem solvingDiagnosis | TroubleshootingDiagnosisEngineering | BrainstormingIdeationCreativityWorkshopDivergence | BrainstormingIdeationCreativityRisk |