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| Criterion |  Innovation Lean Startup |  Product Discovery Pretotyping |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For uncertain business assumptions, the method forces the idea into contact with real market reactions early. It separates wishful picture, assumption, and observable behavior, so that learning becomes faster than planning. This translates uncertainty into measurable insight. | Pretotyping clarifies whether a customer problem and solution idea create enough real demand. It separates problem, assumption, solution, and evidence, and captures the result as a pretotyping sketch, test setup, and conversion data. | 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 | Medium | Low | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | Wochen bis Monate je Lernzyklus | Stunden bis wenige Tage | 1-4 h | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 1-4 | 3-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Hypothesis list, MVPs, Learning reports, Pivot or persevere decision | Pretotyping sketch, Test setup, Conversion data, Go or no-go decision | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | LeanStartupValidationMVP | ValidationDemandMVP | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |