Letters…Problem Solving 101, part b
March 5, 2008 at 2:03 pm | In Six Sigma, quality, training | Leave a CommentTags: continuous improvement, quality, training
Dear Bill,
Yesterday we started talking about problem solving. You may remember that I insisted that the first step in solving a problem was to correctly define the problem. In my example, it was 10:00 AM and I was hungry. I also showed that understanding the problem could go a long way to understanding root cause for that problem. In this case, using the “Five Whys” methodology, we were able to determine that the reason I was hungry was that my failure to properly set my alarm clock the night before had led me to oversleep.
It really can not be overemphasized: In order to solve a problem, you must first truly define the problem, and then drive to learn the root cause.
It really can not be overemphasized: In order to solve a problem, you must first truly define the problem, and then drive to learn the root cause. Well, okay, maybe there can be too much of a good thing. But once you have a solid understanding of root cause, you can go about the process of corrective action.
Note the word “corrective.” That implies that the action you take will be sufficient to prevent recurrence of the problem in the future; at the least, your corrective action should address the cause of the problem and provide ways to mitigate or diminish the effect if the root cause can not be totally eradicated.
It is often the case that there can be more than one potential corrective action suggested. In our example, we determined that the root cause for my hunger problem was failure to properly reset my alarm clock after the weekend. This could lead to more than one potential corrective action:
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I could avoid the problem by not changing my alarms for the weekend in the first place. This would, of course, mean that the alarms would wake me earlier on Saturday than I would like, but that might be preferable to oversleeping on Monday.
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I could replace my alarm clock with one that allows different settings for different days of the week. I actually own one such clock, which allows you to turn the alarm off or on for a particular day, so that the alarms simply are inactivated for the weekend.
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I could try to find (or invent) a clock that allows me to have 7:00 AM for the work week, while setting 9:00 AM (or something) for the weekend.
You get the point…for every problem there are multiple solution paths. The important issue is to select a solution and then to implement the selected corrective action.
Later, friend…good luck with today’s meeting.
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