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| Criterion | ![]() Systems Thinking Rich Picture | ![]() Operations Failure Mode and Effects Analysis | ![]() Operations Fishbone Diagram | ![]() Systems Thinking CATWOE Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | A Rich Picture brings an unclear situation onto a shared drawing. It captures actors, tensions, information flows, and blind spots before the team jumps to solutions too early. | For a process, product, or service with noticeable failure risks, the method assesses possible failure modes in advance. It directs attention to combinations of occurrence, effect, and detectability. | 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. | CATWOE structures a problem from six viewpoints and prevents too narrow a view of the situation. Different experiences of the system become comparably discussable this way. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 2-6 h | 30-60 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-10 | 3-10 | 2-8 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Rich Picture, Problem Framing Notes | FMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog | CATWOE Canvas, Root Definition, Stakeholder Perspectives, Constraints |
Tagsno overlap | Systems thinkingSoft systemsFramingVisualization | RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause | Root causeQualityOperations | Systems thinkingFramingStakeholders |



