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| Criterion |  Facilitation Mind Mapping |  Operations Gemba Walk |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Operations A3 Problem Solving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a topic is still unclear and too many thoughts surface at once, Mind Mapping creates an open surface for ordering them. It makes connections, subtopics, and starting points visible without fixing them too early. | 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. | 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 complex deviation with several people involved, the method bundles problem, analysis, and decision onto one page. It creates a shared working space where causes, countermeasures, and follow-up fit together. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 15-45 min | 30-120 min | 1-4 h | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-10 | 2-6 | 3-8 | 2-5 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Mind Map, Topic Clusters, Open Questions | Observation Notes, Improvement Ideas | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | A3 Report, Action Plan, Root Cause Analysis |
Tagsno overlap | BrainstormingIdeasMappingStructureFacilitation | LeanObservationProcessOperations | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | LeanProblem solvingCoachingOperations |