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Issue # 48: August 8, 2005
To our readers:
Solving problems - an integral part of Continuous Process Improvement -- can be both a pleasure and a confidence-booster for employees who have the necessary tools. You can skip the stress usually created by problems if you, your colleagues, and your employees agree upon the tools you'll use to solve them. With the right preparation, solving problems is like playing a game, one you know you'll win.
Problem-solving models all contain the following key steps:
1. Define the problem - see
last month's "Brief Tips" issue, step two.
2. Identify the Root Causes of the Problem (reasons for the problem rather than symptoms)
3. Generate Alternative Solutions
4. Evaluate the alternatives for feasibility and effectiveness
5. Agree on the best solution
6. Develop an action plan for implementation of the solution
This issue of "Brief Tips" will deal with the problem-solving tools and techniques used in step 2: Identify the Root Causes of the Problem.
There are a number of tools and techniques to use when considering all possible root causes of a problem and generating alternatives. We will explore and explain three: Brainstorming, Cause and Effect Diagram, and Asking "Why" Five Times. It is important to identify root causes, rather than symptoms, because the root causes can give you clues to how to solve the problem, whereas the symptoms merely tell you how the problem is causing you pain.
BRAINSTORMING
Brainstorming is a core tool used to generate information for the Cause and Effect Diagram and for the Asking "Why" Five Times exercise. Best practices indicate the best brainstorming occurs when individuals first do it privately, then get together as a group and share ideas. As each idea is thrown out, someone should record it on a white board or flip chart. The group can use a round-robin method to gather ideas - team members rotate sharing their ideas, one at a time, until all of each person's ideas have been covered.
It's important to follow some standard brainstorming rules:
· Postpone and withhold your judgment of ideas
· Encourage wild and exaggerated ideas
· Look for quantity at this stage, not quality
· Build on the ideas put forward by others - as you hear other ideas, add to your list
· Treat every person and every idea as equally worthwhile
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When brainstorming, you may want to summarize possible root causes under generic categories such as: Methods, Machines, Materials, People, Places, Procedures, Policies, Surroundings, Suppliers, Systems, & Skills.
CAUSE AND EFFECT DIAGRAM
The cause and effect diagram - also called the "fishbone chart" because of its appearance and the "Ishikawa chart" after the man who popularized its use in Japan - is a tool for visualizing causes and effects.
Use the Cause/Effect Diagram to:
· Organize and display graphically the various theories about what the root causes of a problem may be.
· Show the relationships between various factors influencing a problem.
· Reveal important relationships among various variables and possible causes.
· Focus the team on the causes, not the symptoms.
Construction of a Cause-Effect Diagram:
1. Clearly identify and define the problem, symptom, or effect for which the causes must be identified. see last month's "Brief Tips" issue, step two.
2. Place the problem or symptom being explored at the right of the diagram, enclosed in a box (see below).
3. Draw the central spine as a thick line pointing to it from the left.
4. From your brainstorming session, identify the major categories of possible causes (see the categories listed above under brainstorming) - not less than two and normally not more than six or seven. Place each of the identified major categories of causes on the diagram on a line that is at an angle of about 60 degrees from the horizontal:
5. Within each "major cause category" ask, " Why does this condition exist?" and write the answer to that question on a horizontal line branching off the 60 degree major cause line.
6. Continue to add clauses with horizontal lines to each branch until the fishbone is completed.
7. Once all the bones have been completed, identify the likely, actionable root cause(s) with group brainstorming.
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ASK "WHY" FIVE TIMES
The key to solving a problem is to first truly understand it. Often, we try to solve a problem before completely comprehending its cause, and the focus shifts too quickly from the problem to the solution. What we think is the cause, however, is often just another symptom.
When a problem presents itself, ask "why did this happen?" Don't stop at the answer to this first question. Ask "why?" again and again until you reach the root cause. This exercise can be surprisingly insightful in helping you figure out what is really going on, and can help you avoid "quick fix" solutions. It is especially useful for tackling chronic problems that show up over and over again in a system.
Using the example of late deliveries from last month's Brief Tips, we might ask:
Why were the deliveries late?
Because the driver did not arrive at the delivery location before 10AM as promised.
Why didn't the driver arrive before 10AM?
Because he didn't leave our warehouse in time to drive in the heavy morning traffic and make all the deliveries promised by 10AM.
Why didn't the driver leave our warehouse in time?
Because the truck was not fully loaded by 7AM when the driver should have left.
Why wasn't the truck fully loaded by 7AM?
Because our pickers and packers don't arrive until 6AM and have to pull all orders that were received after 2:30 PM the previous day, and load the truck that arrived empty the previous evening.
Why don't our warehouse personnel arrive before 6AM?
Because we don't want to pay overtime.
Why don't we pick orders in the afternoon and stage them for loading in the morning?
Because we don't have the personnel on duty to do the work.
There are several more why? questions to ask before you reach the root cause in this example, but you get the idea.
Next month: Part 3: How to generate and evaluate alternative solutions for each Root Cause.
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