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| Criterion |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |  Operations Change Analysis |  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. | 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. | For a deviation after a change, the method isolates the influence of the altered condition. It narrows down which differences are relevant and which are just accompanying noise. | 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 | High | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-4 h | 2-8 h | 45-120 min | 30-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | 2-8 | 2-6 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | Change Matrix, Cause Hypotheses, Validation Questions, Action List | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog |
Tags1 shared | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | ChangeRoot causeTroubleshootingComparison | Root causeQualityOperations |