David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done, is subtitled The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. He has a practical way or organizing work and life. Fast Company magazine refers to David as “the productivity guru.”
In Chapter 1 is a section called The Major Change: Getting It All Out of Your Head. David wrote, “The big difference between what I do and what others do is that I capture 100 percent of my “stuff” in and with objective tools at hand, not in my mind.” He writes down and organizes everything he needs to do so that he doesn’t have to keep it in his head. Trying to keep track of everything in our brain can be overwhelming. It’s also ineffective because people forget things.
While this is a great point from a personal productivity standpoint, it also applies to facilitating a root cause analysis. Problems at work typically involve a few people who are in different groups and even different locations. Everyone involved with the problem has some of the information, but no one knows all the details. Everyone sees the problem from their own, sometimes limited, point of view.
In a root cause analysis it’s important for everyone to understand the details within a problem. It’s not necessary to get everyone to agree on the one cause. It is, however, important for everyone to understand the causes. Within an incident, people see some cause-and-effect relationships as more important than others, but this information is kept inside their heads. No one can see what others are thinking, unless it’s written down. In a root cause analysis it’s not enough to just state the problem or the cause because there are too many causes even for small problems. When an organization confronts an important problem, it should write down the causes and organize them into a clear picture.
This is one of the advantages of the Cause Mapping method of root cause analysis. Capturing details on a Cause Map provides a visual record that everyone can see. It creates a visual dialogue that allows everyone to see the information. All the causes, effects and evidence are placed on a visual map that changes the way people communicate. It makes it easier to dissect complex, confusing problems. Improve your problem solving by mapping the causes. For more information about the Cause Mapping method of root cause analysis visit our website or attend one of our workshops.
You must log in to post a comment.