Ten Tips for Facilitating an Effective Root Cause Analysis
Mark Galley
ThinkReliability
Houston, Texas
ThinkReliability
Conducting a root cause analysis is ultimately about solving a problem. The basic parts of a root cause analysis can be grouped in three areas:
- Defining the problem
- Conducting the analysis
- finding the solutions
While the steps are basic, the approaches and language for facilitating a root cause analysis vary widely. Some investigations are clear and coherent while others can be confusing and painful. Investigations typically involve multiple people from multiple disciplines within a company and the facilitator plays a key role in how well or how poorly it goes. This site summarizes ten tips for facilitating an effective root cause analysis
Tip #1:
The purpose of a root cause analysis is to identify the best solutions
Tip #2:
The facilitator collects and organizes information
Tip #3:
Focus on the cause-and-effect principle
Tip #4:
Recognize that people see things differently
Tip #5:
Define the incident by its impact to the overall goals
Tip #6:
Prevent arguments about the problem or the cause
Tip #7:
Make the analysis visual
Tip #8:
Use Microsoft Excel to document the entire investigation
Tip #9:
Pick the best solutions from the possible solutions
Tip #10:
A complete investigation ties back to the work processes