Contents
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Table of Contents (PDF - 42kb)
Excerpt
Introduction
The purpose of this book is to share what I have learned about effective problem solving by exposing common barriers and presenting a proven method to overcome them. I do not pretend to know everything about problem solving and hope this book stimulates more learning about this fascinating subject. As you will learn in this book, it is not the root cause we seek, it is effective solutions—solutions that prevent problems from recurring. At the heart of this book is a new way of communicating that is revolutionizing the way people all around the world think, communicate, and make decisions together.
Imagine your next decision-making meeting and everyone is in agreement with the causes of the problem and the effectiveness of the proposed corrective actions—no conflicts, arguments, or power politics!
With this book you will learn how to use simple tools that facilitate effective communications and document the causes of your problems like you have never seen before. The result is effective solutions to everyday problems every time. This is the promise of the Apollo Root Cause Analysis (ARCA) method and it’s supporting software, RealityChartingTM.
Because this book challenges conventional wisdom, it may not validate your existing belief system, so I suggest you read the book straight through in one quick read and then go back and reread the chapters that interest you the most. Highlight, underline, and otherwise dog-ear the book as you go so that it becomes a useful reference for you. Many very important messages are contained in single sentences throughout the book, and you will want to note them and let them subconsciously seep into your belief system. The message of this book can change the way you think about daily problems, the universe, and your ability to be successful in life.
The book begins in Chapter 1 by examining the typical ways most of us approach problem solving, where those strategies came from, and why those strategies rarely keep our problems from recurring. Chapter 2 describes the cause and effect principle, upon which the Apollo method is based. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 describe the Apollo problem solving tools that are critical for implementing the cause and effect principle andfinding effective solutions. These chapters provide a how-to message with some guidelines and philosophy interspersed. Chapter 6 provides valuable guidance on facilitating a team using the Apollo method. The Apollo method can be used individually or in a group but is most powerful in a group. Chapter 7 highlights the attributes of the Apollo method.
Being a totally new way of thinking, most people want to know how it compares to the conventional root cause analysis methods, such as the Ishikawa Fishbone or Cause Tree methods. To accommodate this request, I have compared all the methods I have come in contact with in the past 18 years and summarized them in an appendix.
If you have ever asked why, you will enjoy this book and reap great value from it.\
Chapter 1: Set Up To Fail
Ignorance is a most wonderful thing.
It facilitates magic.
It allows the masses to be led.
It provides answers when there are none.
It allows happiness in the presence of danger.
All this, while the pursuit of knowledge can only destroy the illusion.
Is it any wonder mankind chooses ignorance?
In every human endeavor, a critical component to our success is our ability to solve problems. Unfortunately, we often set ourselves up to fail with our various problem-solving strategies and our inherent prejudices. We’ve typically relied on what we believe to be common sense, storytelling, and categorizing to resolve our problems. Conventional wisdom has us believe that problem solving is inherent to the subject at hand—the doctor solves medical problems, the mechanic fixes our car, etc. Using the strategies most of us have learned in our lives typically leads to conformity, which brings complacency and mediocrity. This chapter will dispel these false notions and many others that prevent us from being effective problem solvers.
As we explore the reasons behind ineffective problem solving, we will see how rule-based thinking creates the illusion of one right answer and a misguided belief in common sense. We will also see how our natural prejudices prevent effective problem solving. By dispelling the notion of common sense, we are able to replace it with a common reality that allows extremely effective communication. By appreciating all views and seeking causes, not blame, we will start down a path that leads to effective solutions for everyday problems every time.
Please open your mind and join me on an adventure into a new way of thinking that will improve your problem-solving skills and enable much more effective communications.
Problem solving is generally understood to mean overcoming some kind of difficulty by implementing a solution. The best solutions are often the most difficult to find, not because they are hiding but because we don’t bother to look for them. We call these untapped solutions creative solutions because they are seemingly created from inside our minds. Like the sculptor’s notion that the statue lies within the stone, many effective solutions are waiting to be revealed.
Depending on the various abilities we start out with, combined with the experiences we encounter in life, we each develop our own strategies for coping with life’s problems. We each define our own world by creating our own reality. We observe how different things interact and establish our own understanding of the world through these relationships. We learn to control various causes (for example, people and things) to obtain certain goals. We do all this without even knowing it. It is simply part of our nature to explore and understand the world around us. Problem-solving skills vary significantly from person to person, and most are ineffective.
The notion of a single right answer, the belief in something we call “common sense,” and the natural tendency to establish biases and prejudices are all strategies that block effective solutions. This chapter will explore some of these strategies and where they come from.
Problem Solving
One of the most difficult questions I am asked as I travel around the world is, “What do you do for a living?” The answer to this question is difficult because most people are not familiar with what I do. My usual response, “I teach people how to be better problem solvers,” is understood in many ways, but rarely as I intended. “Oh, are you a psychologist?” “Oh, are you a college professor?” “What kind of problems?” “Are you a management consultant?” I am frustrated because I can’t think of any other way to summarize what I do that will be understood. Every response reminds me how each person perceives the world differently and how the notion of problem solving has no common meaning.
Pondering why this is so, I wonder if it may be because our education systems do not recognize problem solving as an entity unto itself. Since problem solving has never been established as a separate subject or curriculum, our skills are not well developed. Aside from the sometimes boring and difficult dictums found in college courses on logic and critical thinking, no fundamental principles have been laid down on which to build a problem-solving curriculum. Problem solving is understood to be inherent in each subject, so problem solving for the computer engineer or the mechanic is thought to be unique to their occupations. Based on this belief, we have failed to teach effective problem solving.
I have discovered that while specific knowledge lies within the job, profession, or subject matter, effective problem solving can be universal to all subjects. Certainly most mechanics can’t solve highly technical computer problems nor can the typical computer engineer be expected to rebuild an engine, but they both can use the same problem-solving strategies in their work and their lives.
While problem solving can be categorized in many ways, we usually treat problems as if they are rule based. That is, we seem to believe all problems have “one right answer.” A colloquial saying even expresses this notion: “It’s the right thing to do.” Many people are so intent on solving all problems with rules that they limit themselves to the same old favorite solutions that failed to prevent them from recurring in the first place.
Rule-based problems follow rules created by people to help us understand repeatable events, such as a company procedure or established laws. In rule-based problems we agree to a convention, and thus a single answer or pre-defined solution is usually available, for example, 2 + 2 = 4, or if we run a red light we may be fined, or three strikes and we are out. In each case, the answer is predefined by a set of rules. The rule-based approach is often more concerned with conformity and consistency than with accomplishing our goals. Rule-based problem solving is often ineffective because our daily lives are filled with the immense variability of the human condition. As such, most problems do not have one right answer—only good, better, and best. These daily problems are called event-based problems.
The concept of the “right answer” was brought home to me a few years back when I was teaching a class at a national laboratory. As we will discuss later, asking “why” is an important part of my approach in identifying causes and effects in problem solving. A Ph.D. physicist, who was also a tenured professor at a prestigious college, informed me during class that to ask “why” was foolish. He talked about Einstein and Niels Bohr and stated that “why” should never be asked. Since this was a total affront to the theme of my class, we had many discussions over the next two days and I finally came to understand his perspective. In his world of experimental physics, he always establishes a box around the experiment so there are no unknown variables. In scientific experiments, everything is known, a condition is changed, and the result is documented and used to provide evidence of a theory or premise.
When I discovered his perspective, I pointed out to him that the world outside his boxes did not have the luxury of complete knowledge. Variables exist in the infinitum, I explained. He understood what I had said, but it destroyed his illusion of the perfect world where everything is known and right answers always exist.
When we cling to a rule-based mindset, we set ourselves up to fail when trying to solve event-based problems in daily life. We so often look for one right answer because that is what we have been taught to do. The next section takes a look at the practices we have so carefully cultivated and refined but that unfortunately allow us to repeat our problems rather than prevent them from recurring.
Typical Problem-Solving Practices
When I first began teaching root cause analysis, I taught some of the conventional wisdom of the day. I taught people how to categorize causes and how to find the “real” root causes. In each class, a few students would seriously challenge what I was teaching. With an aversion to contradictions, I reflected on each class and was constantly learning and changing what I taught. In the process, I identified several problem-solving strategies that are detrimental to effective problem solving. The most common detrimental problem-solving practices used by individuals and organizations the world over include stopping too soon, the need to place blame, the root cause myth, the false belief in common sense and a single reality, groovenation, storytelling, and categorical thinking. We are going to examine each one of these practices.
