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| Criterion | ![]() Facilitation Problem Framing Workshop | ![]() Operations Fishbone Diagram | ![]() Decision Making Assumption Surfacing | ![]() Operations Kepner-Tregoe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a team works on symptoms but the real question stays fuzzy, a Problem Framing Workshop sharpens the view of the right problem. It separates observation, interpretation, and target picture from each other. | When a problem has several possible contributing factors, the method sorts causes by cause areas. It prevents an initial hunch from blocking the view of other plausible drivers. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Low | High |
Timedifferent | 60-120 min | 30-60 min | 45-90 min | 2-8 h |
Participantsdifferent | 4-10 | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Problem Statement, Scope Boundaries, Assumption List, Next Analysis Questions | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan |
Tagsno overlap | FacilitationAlignmentDiscovery | Root causeQualityOperations | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations |



