Description of Barrier:
An unfocused, random approach to RCA can lead to premature
conclusions without data to back them up, revisiting the same issue
again and again, dead end paths and wasted time.
Potential Remedies:
Obvious remedy: Use a structured process for root cause analysis
with corrective action
Less obvious remedy: At regular intervals, review where you are at
in the process and/or have someone from outside of your team perform
an informal audit of your progress.
Root Cause Analysis with Corrective
Action Barrier 3
Description of Barrier:
The problem with stopping before you find the REAL root cause is
that the solution will only be a Band-Aid at best. If you don't
solve a problem at its source, it WILL come back to haunt you.
Potential Remedies:
Obvious remedies: Ask the root cause question: Does this cause
explain all that we know about what the problem is, as well as all
we know about what the problem isn't? Or use the Five-Whys technique
to make sure the cause identified is really the source. Or, verify
and validate the solution.
Less obvious remedy: Ask: Will eliminating this root cause make it
IMPOSSIBLE for this problem to happen again?
Root Cause Analysis
with Corrective Action Barrier 4
Description of Barrier:
While opinions (without facts) can help point you in the direction
of a decision, making decisions without data can be risky and may
lead the team on a wild goose chase.
Potential Remedies:
Obvious remedies: Make fact-based decisions; ask yourselves, "What
data do we have that gives us confidence that this is the right
decision?"
Less obvious remedies: Make a written argument citing factual
reasons that you believe your decision is a good one. If you have a
hard time coming up with the facts, then you probably are not making
a fact-based decision. Or use a Cause and Effect (fishbone) Diagram
showing the decision as the output and then listing the supporting
facts on branches.
Root Cause Analysis
with Corrective Action Barrier 5
Description of Barrier:
Problem-solving and data collection can yield a huge amount of
information that can be difficult and tedious to plow through.
However, the true root cause may be obscured by a lot of other
irrelevant or less important data so digging deep into a problem
with attention to detail can mean the difference between solving the
problem or completely missing the mark.
Potential Remedy:
Obvious remedies: Confirm that your team is working through each
problem-solving step and not jumping ahead to the solution
Less obvious remedy: Refer to the flowchart for the process and
review each step in the process to make sure that each is well
understood
Root Cause Analysis with Corrective
Action Barrier 6
Description of Barrier:
Sometimes, interim containment "hides" the problem effect "taking
the pressure off" of getting to the root cause.
Potential Remedies:
Obvious remedy: Regardless of the problem-solving model you are
using, don't stop short when the problem appears to go away; be sure
to complete the problem-solving cycle.
Less obvious remedies: Set an expiration date for the interim
containment or set a date to review the status of the interim
containment solution independent of the rest of the problem-solving
process.
Root Cause Analysis with Corrective
Action Barrier 7
Description of Barrier:
Team members may not have the necessary skills, knowledge or
experience to drill down to the root cause. Symptoms of this barrier
includes an inability to use special programs to access and analyze
data, a lack of detailed knowledge of the process and /or not
appreciating the history of the problem, process and players
involved.
Potential Remedies:
Obvious remedy: If an internal team does not have the skills and
know-how needed, call upon an expert.
Less obvious remedies: Conduct an audit of team skills as they apply
to the problem and then identify gaps and/or check internal Best
Practices databases for potential solutions to similar problems.
Root Cause Analysis with Corrective
Action Barrier 8
Description of Barrier:
Tough-to-solve problems require support from management in the form
of resources, access to information, and an open mind to solutions.
Without a strong organizational will to tackle big issues, teams may
become frustrated and not take their task seriously.
Potential Remedies:
Obvious remedies: Assign management level "champions" to RCA
projects and get management to "sign-on" to the problem statement
before the team proceeds further with the project.
Less obvious remedy: Communicate the benefits of RCA in the language
of management: Time and Money
Root Cause Analysis with Corrective
Action Barrier 9
Description of Barrier:
Root cause analysis will uncover problems with the existing system
that someone, at some point, put in place. It is easy to point
fingers when you start to get close to the root cause of a problem
and that finger pointing could intimidate team members to the point
that they cover up the real problem for fear of being blamed for it.
Potential Remedies:
Obvious remedies: Focus on problems with the PROCESS and not the
people in the process and have people who created the problem
process serve as resources to the team rather than being team
members.
Less obvious remedy: Create an amnesty pact where the team agrees
that no person will be blamed for past problems.
Root Cause Analysis with Corrective
Action Barrier 10
Description of Barrier:
Most people spend at least part of their day doing something that
they wouldn't have to do if a chronic problem was fixed. As the
saying goes, there is always time to do it over, but there is never
time to do it right the first time.
Potential Remedies:
Obvious remedies: Quantify what living with the problem is costing
in both time and money and at the start of the RCA process, set
realistic time requirements for project members as well as deadlines
for project completion.
Less obvious remedies: Explore the impact of recurring errors from
your customer's viewpoint; for really tough problems use an
immersion (or Kaizen Event) approach to solving the problem where
team members take a day or more away from their regular job duties
to completely focus on the problem.
