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Criterion
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
A 5 Whys working surface connects an observable problem with evidenced causes, marked uncertainty and concrete countermeasures with ownership.
Operations
5 Whys
Paper illustration for Constraint Analysis.
Decision Making
Constraint Analysis
Purposedifferent
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.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.
Complexitysame
LowLowLow
Timedifferent
20–45 min15-30 min30-90 min
Participantsdifferent
Small cross-functional group2-62-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logRoot cause notes, CountermeasuresConstraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries
Tagsno overlap
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving
ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions
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Often compared together

Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration for Kepner-Tregoe
Operations
Kepner-Tregoe
Paper illustration for Root Cause Analysis.
Operations
Root Cause Analysis
Paper illustration for 8D Problem Solving.
Operations
8D Problem Solving
A3 Problem-Solving workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Operations
A3 Problem Solving