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| Criterion |  Decision Making Risk Matrix |  Operations Causal Factor Analysis |  Operations Fault Tree Analysis |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | For an event with a complicated course, the method breaks down the contributing factors along the timeline. It shows how conditions, decisions, and reactions together produce a course of events. | For a critical top event with several possible triggers, the method logically models failure paths. It makes visible which combinations of conditions can lead to damage. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | High | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-60 min | 2-6 h | 2-6 h | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 3-10 | 3-8 | 2-8 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Risk Matrix, Top Risk List | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Fault Tree, Critical Paths, Cause Hypotheses, Control Actions | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan |
Tagsno overlap | RiskDecisionPrioritizationAssessment | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | RiskRoot causeSafety | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery |