Demystifying the Root Cause Process.
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010Step One - The Problem Statement
Last month, we talked about “chart fright” - the struggle I see teams have in dealing with the form. I’d like to continue that theme today and in the months ahead.
The first step in the root cause process is the problem statement. Albert Einstein is credited with saying “If I had one hour to save the world, I’d spend 55 minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution.” I believe this statement is very indicative of the challenge facing in our investigation teams. You have to start well to end well. And often teams want to get right into the investigation without fully understanding the problem.
My advice: Remember the goal. Find out what’s wrong with what - object and defect. In order to do this, you may need get out of the conference room. Go to where the problem occurred if at all possible. The Japanese call that “Gemba.” At the very least, bring pictures, videos or the problem itself to the room (as a show and tell). Let the team see it, experience it. Storyboard the problem if that helps. Lastly, challenge assumptions. Too many times I see teams assume they all have the same understanding, and it’s not until later in the investigation that this comes out. You’ll hear comments like “I thought we were working on this - or that”! Often it means starting over. Save a lot of time and frustration by fully understanding the problem statement before investigating it.
