ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Process tracing

Process tracing is like following a trail of bread crumbs to find out what happened. Imagine you go on a walk with your friend and you both see a bird fly away. Later, your mom asks you what you saw on your walk, and you tell her you saw a bird. But your mom asks you how you know it was a bird, and you realize you didn't really get a good look at it.

This is where process tracing can help. You can go back and think about everything you remember from when you saw the bird, and try to piece it all together. Maybe you remember that the bird had feathers and wings, and it was flapping its wings to fly. You can use these clues to figure out what kind of bird it might have been.

In a similar way, when people do process tracing, they are trying to figure out exactly what happened in a particular event or situation. They look at all the clues and try to put them together to create a picture of what happened. This can be really helpful in understanding complicated situations or figuring out why something went wrong.

When experts do process tracing, they might use things like interviews, documents, or video recordings to gather information. They also use their own knowledge and experience to make sense of what they see. By piecing together all the clues, they can create a detailed timeline of what happened and why.

Overall, process tracing is like being a detective, trying to solve a mystery. By carefully following the trail of clues, you can figure out exactly what happened in a complicated situation.
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