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| Criterion |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |  Decision Making Constraint Analysis |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For a disturbance that's hard to pin down, the method cleanly separates problem, cause, and decision. It reduces mixing when symptoms allow several interpretations. | When an initiative stalls, the limit often lies not in the idea but in hard or soft boundary conditions. Constraint Analysis separates these limits and shows which of them can actually be shaped. | In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures. | 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 | High | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 2-8 h | 30-90 min | 20–45 min | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 2-8 | Small cross-functional group | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |