When you need to do a mathematical calculation, do you reach for an abacus and slide rule, or a hand-held calculator? I don’t see many people get out an abacus or slide rule anymore, even though both tools can do some pretty complex calculations. Modern calculators are much easier to use, because they’re simpler. It doesn’t take much effort to remember which buttons to press in order to divide 148 by 3, because each button has a clear and simple function. A calculator also reliably produces the correct result, because the computer at a calculator’s heart manipulates the numbers in their fundamental form (that is, in binary). Just because a calculator is simple to use and represents numbers in a simple, fundamental way, doesn’t mean that a calculator lacks to power to do complex calculations.
Similarly, there are many different tools for performing a root cause analysis. At a fundamental level, a root cause analysis is uncovering “why” something happened by breaking down the issue into its causes and effects. I like the Cause Mapping method for root cause analysis because it shows how the causes and effects of an issue are connected, without adding confusing terminology or complicated rules. But just because a Cause Map is clear and uncomplicated doesn’t mean that it lacks the power to unravel the most complex incidents.
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