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| Criterion |  Innovation Worst Possible Idea |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Operations 5 Whys |  Innovation Brainstorming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For a seemingly familiar problem with paralyzing seriousness, the method dissolves pressure and fear of judgment. It deliberately makes failure pictures extreme, so hidden assumptions become visible faster. This clarifies what a workable path should avoid. | 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. | 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 a team faces an open question with many obvious directions, the method first creates breadth instead of premature commitment. It separates idea flow from evaluation and makes lines of thought visible, creating a pool for selection and further development. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 20-45 min | 1-4 h | 15-30 min | 30-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-12 | 3-8 | 2-6 | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Bad Idea List, Reframed Concepts, Idea Shortlist | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Root cause notes, Countermeasures | Idea pool, Theme clusters, Shortlist |
Tagsno overlap | IdeationCreativityDivergence | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving | BrainstormingIdeationCreativityWorkshopDivergence |