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| Criterion |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |  Business Strategy 5-Minuten VC-Check |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  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. | The 5-Minute VC Check clarifies opportunities and strategic options at the earliest idea stage. It compares problem quality, customer willingness to pay, alternatives, differentiation, and market potential, and captures the result as a VC-check note, go/sharpen/park decision, and risk list. | 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 | High | Low | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 2-8 h | 5-15 min | 1-4 h | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 1-5 | 3-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | VC-check note, Go/sharpen/park decision, Risk and assumption list, Next validation step | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | StartupValidationCompetition | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |