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| Criterion |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Operations Root Cause Tree Analysis |  DevOps Blameless Postmortem |  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. | For a problem with several suspected causes, the method builds a causal structure instead of a mere list. It makes visible how causes connect and where the strongest points of leverage lie. | After an incident with damage or a near miss, the method creates a sober field for learning without assigning blame. It directs attention to the course of events, conditions, and effective countermeasures. | 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 | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-4 h | 1-3 h | 30-90 min | 2-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | 2-8 | 3-12 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Cause Tree, Evidence Notes, Countermeasures | Postmortem Doc, Action Items, Timeline | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog |
Tags1 shared | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | Root causeTreeIncidentQuality | Site Reliability EngineeringIncidentLearningReliability | Root causeSafetyIncident |