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| Criterion |  Systems Thinking Rich Picture |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |
|---|---|---|---|
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 disturbance that's hard to pin down, the method cleanly separates problem, cause, and decision. It reduces mixing when symptoms allow several interpretations. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 2-8 h | 30-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-10 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Rich Picture, Problem Framing Notes | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog |
Tagsno overlap | Systems thinkingSoft systemsFramingVisualization | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | Root causeQualityOperations |
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