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| Criterion |  Delivery Value Stream Mapping |  Operations Causal Factor Analysis |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | 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 | Medium | High | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | 2-6 h | 2-8 h | 1-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 4-10 | 3-10 | 2-8 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Current-state map, Future-state map, Bottleneck list | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan |
Tagsno overlap | LeanFlowWasteDelivery | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident |