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| Criterion | ![]() Operations Root Cause Analysis | ![]() Systems Thinking Evaporating Cloud | ![]() Operations Barrier Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|
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. | The method makes visible why two seemingly incompatible demands arise and which assumption must be tested to resolve the conflict. | For a risk that can only be managed through multiple layers of protection, the method examines the effectiveness of each barrier. It shows where safeguards are missing, too weak, or fail under real conditions. |
Complexitysame | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-4 h | 60-120 min | 2-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | 2-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Conflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next Experiments | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog |
Tagsno overlap | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking | Root causeSafetyIncident |
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