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| Criterion |  Product Strategy Impact Mapping |  Innovation TRIZ |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  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. | 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. | 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 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 | High | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 1-4 h | 1-4 h | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | 2-8 | 3-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Impact Map, Outcome Hypotheses, Delivery Options | Contradiction Statement, Inventive Principles, Solution Concepts | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | OutcomesStrategyBehaviorPlanning | InnovationProblem solvingContradictionsCreativity | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |