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| Criterion |  Decision Making Risk Matrix |  Product Discovery Assumption Mapping |  Operations Family Tree Analysis |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a project faces many possible disruptions, it quickly becomes unclear which risks deserve attention first. It separates options, evaluation criteria, and open risks. The result is captured as a Risk Matrix and a Top Risk List. | When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. | For a series of incidents with a similar pattern, the method arranges individual events as branches of a common origin. It makes visible which conditions keep recurring. | 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 | 30-60 min | 45-60 min | 2-4 h | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 2-8 | 2-6 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Risk Matrix, Top Risk List | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking | Family Tree Diagram, Pattern Notes, Systemic Measures | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | RiskDecisionPrioritizationAssessment | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation | Root causePatternsIncidentSystemic | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |