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Criterion
Visual Management workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Operations
Visual Management
Paper illustration for Contextual Inquiry.
UX Research
Contextual Inquiry
Paper illustration for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Operations
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Paper illustration for Fault Tree Analysis.
Operations
Fault Tree Analysis
Purposedifferent
With high tempo and many parallel topics, the method makes status, deviations, and priorities visible at a glance. It reduces search effort and prevents what matters from getting lost in daily work.When work processes are known only from accounts and the real context stays hidden, Contextual Inquiry makes behavior at the workplace visible. Observation and follow-up questions together show how people actually work, get interrupted, and improvise.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.For a critical top event with several possible triggers, the method logically models failure paths. It makes visible which combinations of conditions can lead to damage.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumHighHigh
Timedifferent
Ongoing1-3 Wochen2-6 h2-6 h
Participantsdifferent
1-204-12 Beobachtungen3-103-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Visual Board, Status Indicators, Exception CuesField Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain PointsFMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation ActionsFault Tree, Critical Paths, Cause Hypotheses, Control Actions
Tagsno overlap
SignalsOperationsVisual management
UX researchObservationContext
RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause
RiskRoot causeSafety
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