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| Criterion |  Product Strategy Impact Mapping |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Innovation TRIZ |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a goal needs to be connected to several possible paths, it shows chains of impact instead of feature lists. It connects business goal, behavior change, and measures. | 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. | For technical contradictions or trade-offs, the method looks for solutions that resolve opposing requirements at the same time. It translates limits into an explicit picture of conflict that becomes workable. This produces not just compromises but more elegant principles. | 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 | 45-90 min | 1-4 h | 1-4 h | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | 3-8 | 2-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Impact Map, Outcome Hypotheses, Delivery Options | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Contradiction Statement, Inventive Principles, Solution Concepts | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | OutcomesStrategyBehaviorPlanning | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | InnovationProblem solvingContradictionsCreativity | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |