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| Criterion |  Delivery Value Stream Mapping |  Operations Causal Factor Analysis |  DevOps Blameless Postmortem |  Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When delivery work dissolves into wait times, handoffs, and hidden effort, Value Stream Mapping makes the actual flow visible. The method exposes bottlenecks, idle time, and feedback loops so lead time and improvement levers become tangible. | 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. | After an incident with damage or a near miss, the method creates a sober field for learning without assigning blame. It directs attention to the course of events, conditions, and effective countermeasures. | For a single, hard-to-explain deviation, the method exposes the causal chain behind the visible symptom. It keeps the cause open until a controllable condition emerges instead of a mere description. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | High | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | 2-6 h | 30-90 min | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 4-10 | 3-10 | 3-12 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Current-state map, Future-state map, Bottleneck list | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Postmortem Doc, Action Items, Timeline | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | LeanFlowWasteDelivery | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | Site Reliability EngineeringIncidentLearningReliability | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |