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| Criterion |  Facilitation Timeline |  Operations Causal Factor Analysis |  Operations Family Tree Analysis |  Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a project, incident, or change process is only remembered in fragments, Timeline brings the sequence back into a readable form. It makes turning points, precursors, and after-effects recognizable over the course of time. | For an event with a complicated course, the method breaks down the contributing factors along the timeline. It shows how conditions, decisions, and reactions together produce a course of events. | For a series of incidents with a similar pattern, the method arranges individual events as branches of a common origin. It makes visible which conditions keep recurring. | A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 2-6 h | 2-4 h | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-12 | 3-10 | 2-6 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Timeline, Milestones, Insight Notes | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Family Tree Diagram, Pattern Notes, Systemic Measures | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas |
Tagsno overlap | TimelineFacilitationSequence | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | Root causePatternsIncidentSystemic | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality |