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What’s Your Problem?

Three common problem-solving mistakes, and two questions to avoid them

Alan Nicol
Thu, 07/30/2015 - 15:34
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In my younger years, I might have asked that question to tell off someone who was getting in my face. Now I find it’s one of the most critical questions to ask when beginning a process improvement because often we either don’t really know the answer, or we answer incorrectly.

ADVERTISEMENT

How can we answer such a simple question incorrectly? Because we identify the wrong problem, or we define the problem incorrectly in the first place. Here are three simple and common mistakes we should learn to watch for and prevent:
1. Defining a solution, not a problem
2. Identifying results or consequences instead of the problem
3. Defining one possible problem when there are several

A strong culture of root cause analysis can rescue companies from the second two mistakes, and it will often prevent them from making the first mistake—or at least help them recognize it early.

Defining a solution

This is perhaps the most common mistake and also the most dangerous because it enables us to proceed with a great deal of development work and expense toward a solution that’s either less than optimal, or not a viable solution at all.

 …

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Comments

Submitted by RobinGoldsmith on Thu, 07/30/2015 - 11:57

Try the powerful Problem Pyramid(tm)

Thank you for being another of the few voices in the wilderness that recognize how frequently REAL problems are not identified accurately.  Your hints are helpful but I fear are likely to be applied poorly by someone without your skills and perspective. 

 

I’ve found better results come from using the powerful Problem Pyramid(tm), including following its disciplined systematic guidelines for assuring each step is correct before proceeding to the next.  It’s not just for software.  You can learn more about it in my book, Discovering REAL Business Requirements for Software Project Success, or in articles such as “BAs Will Falter Until They Learn to Discover REAL, Business Requirements” at http://www.modernanalyst.com/Resources/Articles/tabid/115/ArticleType/ArticleView/ArticleID/1193/Default.aspx.

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Submitted by Alan Nicol on Fri, 07/31/2015 - 10:37

In reply to Try the powerful Problem Pyramid(tm) by RobinGoldsmith

Practice Makes Perspective

ROBINGOLDSMITH,

Thank you for your kind words.  I believe that practice makes one skillful and produces perspective.  I hope that the hints above are simple and easy to practice and I encourage every reader to try.

That said, I will investigate your suggestion.  I'm always interested in learning new methods and perspectives.  The software development perspective is one I explore often.

Thanks

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Submitted by dvanputten on Fri, 07/31/2015 - 16:35

Simple and Powerful

Hello Alan:

This is a fantastic article. It is simple yet powerful. Social media is full of solutions for problems that don't exist. Thank you! Thank you for this article!

Sincerely, Dirk

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