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| Criterion |  UX Research User Interviews |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Operations Failure Mode and Effects Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | For a disturbance that's hard to pin down, the method cleanly separates problem, cause, and decision. It reduces mixing when symptoms allow several interpretations. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | Low | High |
Timedifferent | 30–60 min per interview | 2-8 h | 45-90 min | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | 1 participant per interview | 2-8 | 2-8 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | FMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions |
Tagsno overlap | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause |