In DEPTH Cause Analysis for Equipment Problems
Equipment degrades, malfunctions, or fails outright… hopefully not too frequently, but every breakdown can be painful. So, of course, you will want to figure out exactly...
Category: Root Cause Analysis
The 5D Method for Avoiding Corrective Action
You’ve just suffered through the indignity of being on the wrong end of a root cause analysis… and now somebody has the nerve to come...
RCA at the AntiSyphus Effect
Kathleen DeFilippo over at The AntiSyphus Effect (lost to the ravages of time, kind of, but see below) has written a very nice collection of...
Root Cause Analysis for Human Behaviours, Part 1
Root cause analysis can be characterized in many ways. Some refer to it as a tool for continuous improvement. Others call it a method for...
Root Cause Analysis – Art or Science?
There are many commonly held beliefs about root cause analysis that bother me. Perhaps the single most irksome to me is the statement “it’s an...
Rockin’ New Human Performance Investigation Tool
Most problems and accidents involve human activity at some point or other. Often, this activity is right at the point of occurrence, and people at...
Optimization Is Not The Goal
Problems come in all shapes and sizes. I’ve been involved in all kinds of investigations, from those dealing with something as mundane a chronic lack...
Systematic Problem-Solving Sequence
Problems happen all the time. How we choose to respond is a major factor in determining how badly we will be affected by any given...
Cross-Pollination #2
Root cause analysis has a fatal flaw — if you can’t convince people that change is necessary, they will not change. Too many beautiful reports...
Software as Root Cause
Wired News has a nice article on what they consider to be the 10 worst software bugs of all time (so far). I knew about...