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| Criterion |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Innovation Contradiction Analysis |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 a system should improve while another measure suffers as a result, the method makes the underlying conflict precisely formulable. It separates the desired effect from its side effect. This makes solutions possible that address the contradiction deliberately instead of half-heartedly. | 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 | Medium | Medium | High | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-4 h | 60-120 min | 2-8 h | 30-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Contradiction Statement, Abstraction Notes, Solution Principles, Concept Ideas | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog |
Tagsno overlap | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | ContradictionsInnovationProblem solving | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | Root causeQualityOperations |