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| Criterion |  Facilitation Timeline |  Facilitation Lean Coffee |  Operations Root Cause Tree Analysis |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | When a group without a fixed agenda needs to get into useful conversations quickly, Lean Coffee structures the start around interests rather than a presentation. The group itself negotiates which topics get time first and which wait. | 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 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 | Low | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 30-90 min | 1-3 h | 1-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-12 | 3-20 | 2-8 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Timeline, Milestones, Insight Notes | Prioritized Topics, Discussion Notes, Action Items | Cause Tree, Evidence Notes, Countermeasures | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan |
Tagsno overlap | TimelineFacilitationSequence | FacilitationAutonomyDialogue | Root causeTreeIncidentQuality | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident |