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| Criterion |  Engineering Kanban |  Operations Gemba Walk |  Operations 5 Whys |  Delivery Value Stream Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | 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 delivery work dissolves into wait times, handoffs, and hidden effort, Value Stream Mapping makes the actual flow visible. The method exposes bottlenecks, idle time, and feedback loops so lead time and improvement levers become tangible. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | Ongoing | 30-120 min | 15-30 min | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-12 | 2-6 | 2-6 | 4-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Kanban board, WIP policies, Flow metrics | Observation Notes, Improvement Ideas | Root cause notes, Countermeasures | Current-state map, Future-state map, Bottleneck list |
Tagsno overlap | FlowVisual managementDelivery | LeanObservationProcessOperations | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving | LeanFlowWasteDelivery |