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| Criterion | ![]() Agile Starfish Retrospective | ![]() Operations A3 Problem Solving | ![]() Operations Failure Mode and Effects Analysis | ![]() Operations Fishbone Diagram |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When improvement options need to be sorted more finely than just start and stop, it brings observations into clear kinds of action. This makes visible what should be done more, less, newly, or continued. | For a complex deviation with several people involved, the method bundles problem, analysis, and decision onto one page. It creates a shared working space where causes, countermeasures, and follow-up fit together. | For a process, product, or service with noticeable failure risks, the method assesses possible failure modes in advance. It directs attention to combinations of occurrence, effect, and detectability. | 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 | Low | Medium | High | Low |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 45-90 min | 2-6 h | 30-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 | 2-5 | 3-10 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Starfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments | A3 Report, Action Plan, Root Cause Analysis | FMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog |
Tagsno overlap | RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam | LeanProblem solvingCoachingOperations | RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause | Root causeQualityOperations |



