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| Criterion |  Product Discovery Pretotyping |  Innovation Lean Startup |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | 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. | 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 | Low | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | Stunden bis wenige Tage | Wochen bis Monate je Lernzyklus | 1-4 h | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-4 | 2-8 | 3-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Pretotyping sketch, Test setup, Conversion data, Go or no-go decision | Hypothesis list, MVPs, Learning reports, Pivot or persevere decision | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | ValidationDemandMVP | LeanStartupValidationMVP | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |