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| Criterion |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Growth A/B Testing |  Innovation Lean Startup |  Product Discovery Smoke Test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a problem keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another. | When two variants compete, discussions quickly decide by taste rather than effect. A/B Testing checks behavior under controlled conditions and separates real improvement from chance or expectation effects. | For uncertain business assumptions, the method forces the idea into contact with real market reactions early. It separates wishful picture, assumption, and observable behavior, so that learning becomes faster than planning. This translates uncertainty into measurable insight. | When demand only needs to be roughly verified, it tests interest with minimal effort. It measures whether people would take a next step at all. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | High | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-4 h | 1-4 Wochen | Wochen bis Monate je Lernzyklus | 1-5 Tage |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | 1-6 | 2-8 | Nutzertraffic |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async | Async |
Outputdifferent | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Experiment results, Decision log, Learning summary | Hypothesis list, MVPs, Learning reports, Pivot or persevere decision | Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note |
Tagsno overlap | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | ExperimentsGrowthAnalyticsValidation | LeanStartupValidationMVP | ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth |