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| Criterion |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |  Operations 5 Whys |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects. | 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 | High | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 2-8 h | 45-120 min | 15-30 min | 1-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-6 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides | Root cause notes, Countermeasures | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan |
Tagsno overlap | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident |