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| Criterion | ![]() Facilitation World Café | ![]() DevOps Blameless Postmortem | ![]() Operations Causal Factor Analysis | ![]() Facilitation Fishbowl Discussion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a group needs to connect many viewpoints in a short time, World Café creates a calm alternation between closeness and rotation. It sets thinking in motion without forcing the conversation into full-plenary rigidity. | 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 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. | When a controversial topic needs depth and discipline at the same time, Fishbowl Discussion makes the structure of the conversation transparent. The format keeps the core small enough for real dialogue and open enough for controlled turnover. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 60-180 min | 30-90 min | 2-6 h | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 12-100+ | 3-12 | 3-10 | 8-80 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Table Notes, Emergent Themes, Shared Questions | Postmortem Doc, Action Items, Timeline | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Discussion Insights, Observed Tensions, Follow-up Questions |
Tagsno overlap | FacilitationDialogueLarge groupSensemaking | Site Reliability EngineeringIncidentLearningReliability | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | FacilitationDialogueLarge group |



