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| Criterion |  Delivery Value Stream Mapping |  Engineering Kanban |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |  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. | When work sits in too many parallel streams, throughput suffers and no one sees the bottlenecks. Kanban makes the flow of work visible and limits overload so a system becomes calmer and more predictable. | 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. | 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 | Medium | High | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | Ongoing | 2-8 h | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | 4-10 | 2-12 | 2-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Current-state map, Future-state map, Bottleneck list | Kanban board, WIP policies, Flow metrics | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | LeanFlowWasteDelivery | FlowVisual managementDelivery | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |