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| Criterion |  Engineering Kanban |  Operations After-Action Review |  Operations Process Mapping |  Operations Gemba Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When work sits in too many parallel streams, throughput suffers and no one sees the bottlenecks. Kanban makes the flow of work visible and limits overload so a system becomes calmer and more predictable. | 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. | With a confusing workflow that has many handoffs, the method makes the actual process visible. It shows where work is passed on, delayed, or duplicated, so improvement targets the right spots. | When there is uncertainty about the real course of a process, the method brings observation to the place where work happens. It combines perception, follow-up questions, and process knowledge so decisions rest on actual workflows instead of assumptions. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | Ongoing | 20-45 min | 1-3 h | 30-120 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-12 | 3-12 | 3-10 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Kanban board, WIP policies, Flow metrics | Lessons learned, Action items, Event summary | Process Map, Handoff List, Improvement Backlog | Observation Notes, Improvement Ideas |
Tagsno overlap | FlowVisual managementDelivery | LearningOperationsImprovement | ProcessOperationsImprovement | LeanObservationProcessOperations |