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| Criterion |  Operations Visual Management |  Engineering Kanban |  Operations 5 Whys |  Delivery Value Stream Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 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 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. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | Ongoing | Ongoing | 15-30 min | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | 1-20 | 2-12 | 2-6 | 4-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Visual Board, Status Indicators, Exception Cues | Kanban board, WIP policies, Flow metrics | Root cause notes, Countermeasures | Current-state map, Future-state map, Bottleneck list |
Tagsno overlap | SignalsOperationsVisual management | FlowVisual managementDelivery | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving | LeanFlowWasteDelivery |