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| Criterion |  Engineering Kanban |  Operations Bottleneck Analysis |  Operations 5 Whys |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | For a flow that backs up at one point, the method looks for the capacity limit with the greatest leverage. It explains why extra effort elsewhere barely improves throughput. | 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. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | Ongoing | 1-3 h | 15-30 min | 1-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-12 | 3-8 | 2-6 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Kanban board, WIP policies, Flow metrics | Bottleneck Map, Flow Metrics, Improvement Options, Follow-up Measures | Root cause notes, Countermeasures | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan |
Tagsno overlap | FlowVisual managementDelivery | FlowMeasurementConstraints | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident |