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Criterion
Paper illustration for Root Cause Tree Analysis
Operations
Root Cause Tree Analysis
Paper illustration of two user profile cards with a goal, behavior evidence, and an open research question.
UX Research
Personas
Paper illustration of two people facing each other, speech bubbles and an open interview notebook.
UX Research
User Interviews
Paper illustration for Root Cause Analysis.
Operations
Root Cause Analysis
Purposedifferent
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.When target groups stay too vague and teams talk about the same people differently, personas create a shared, solid picture of usage. Condensed profiles make needs, contexts, and differences tangible enough for decisions.When teams derive needs only from assumptions and real motives are missing, user interviews give direct access to behavior and meaning. Conversations from the target group's everyday life make patterns, tensions, and open questions solidly visible.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.
Complexitydifferent
MediumMediumLowMedium
Timedifferent
1-3 h1-3 Tage30–60 min per interview1-4 h
Participantsdifferent
2-8Internes Team1 participant per interview3-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Cause Tree, Evidence Notes, CountermeasuresPersona Profiles, Needs Summary, Scenario NotesInterview Notes, Themes, Insight SummaryProblem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan
Tagsno overlap
Root causeTreeIncidentQuality
ResearchCustomerSynthesis
QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery
Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident
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