{"id":15009,"date":"2020-09-26T17:18:14","date_gmt":"2020-09-26T21:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=15009"},"modified":"2020-10-01T17:41:51","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T21:41:51","slug":"diagnosing-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/diagnosing-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Diagnosing Problems at Work: Find Root Causes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How does diagnosing problems work in the workplace? Why is it important to diagnose problems and solve them effectively?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Diagnosing problems is an important part of Dalio&#8217;s 5 steps. When you recognize and diagnose problems, you can learn how to go about finding solutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn how diagnosing problems works, and how you can do it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Diagnosing Problems: <strong>Identify Problems and Don\u2019t Tolerate Them<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>It must be OK to make mistakes, but unacceptable not to identify them or learn from them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>People need to internalize the Life Principles around embracing reality. People need to embrace their pain as a growth opportunity, and reflect on what they have to improve.<\/li><li><em>Celebrate <\/em>finding mistakes since they\u2019re opportunities to improve the machine..<\/li><li>Don\u2019t fire someone for making an honest mistake\u2014this incentivizes hiding mistakes.<\/li><li>Do fire someone for hiding a mistake.<\/li><li>People must escalate responsibilities they cannot handle.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Have as many people looking for problems as possible.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Specifically assign people the job of finding problems. These people should report problems to people other than their direct manager, so they can report freely without fear of being punished.<\/li><li>Laws are weak unless you have auditors to enforce them.<\/li><li>Welcome other people to probe you for problems.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Probe deep and hard for problems.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Managers should \u201ctaste the soup\u201d like chefs do before dishes go out. They should inspect the outcomes themselves, or have someone else in the machine responsible.<\/li><li>Have regular standing meetings to avoid interactions slipping through the cracks. Standardize the agendas with the same questions.<\/li><li>Dalio likes daily updates, asking his direct reports to write a 10-15 minute update on what they did that day, any issues they encountered, and reflections.<\/li><li>You should personally probe to the level that is two levels levels below you. This is the only way you\u2019ll tell how well the person reporting to you functions as a manager.<ul><li>Have them feel free to escalate problems to you, instead of requiring them to stop at their direct manager.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Make the probing transparent to increase the probability of being right (to let others evaluate) and reinforce faith in due process.<\/li><li>Pull all suspicious threads. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/small-problems\/\">Small problems<\/a> can be symptomatic of serious underlying problems.<ul><li>Imagine your small problems are pieces of trash you\u2019re stepping over to get across the room. They may not be critical issues, but cleaning up reinforces a culture of excellence.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Be very specific when describing problems.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Don\u2019t generalize. Don\u2019t use \u201cwe\u201d and \u201cthey.\u201d Name specific people and specific instances. Someone made a bad decision.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Use the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/80-20-law\/\">80\/20<\/a> rule to find the 20% of causes that lead to 80% of the problems.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>No problem is too difficult to fix. <\/strong>Some people avoid problems because they seem too difficult. This will only worsen the situation and lead to more work later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>In this step, don\u2019t worry about fixing the problems. Just identify them.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Beware of these barriers to finding issues:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Boiling frog syndrome: with exposure, people get used to problems that would shock them if they saw them with fresh eyes.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/causes-of-groupthink\/\">Groupthink<\/a>: don\u2019t assume that just because other people aren\u2019t screaming about a problem means that there\u2019s not a problem. Other people are probably thinking the same thing you are, but no one wants to speak up.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep an error log to track mistakes and solutions. Then observe patterns of mistakes to see if they are signals of actual weaknesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Find Root Causes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When solving problems, a common mistake is to deal with problems as one-time events, rather than diagnosing problems with the machine. <\/strong>If you don\u2019t fix the root cause, the problem will keep occurring again and again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Get to the level of what it is about the <em>people<\/em> involved that led to bad outcomes. <strong>Root causes are described in adjectives, not verbs.<\/strong> Someone could be \u201ccareless,\u201d \u201cnot well trained,\u201d or \u201chas low bandwidth.\u201d In contrast, \u201che forgot to write a reminder\u201d is not a root cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Here\u2019s a checklist of questions to ask for diagnosing the problem:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Was the outcome positive or negative?<\/li><li>Who was the responsible party in charge of the outcome?<\/li><li>Did the responsible party lack ability or skill, and\/or is the design of the machine bad?<\/li><li>How should the machine have worked?<ul><li>Stay at the level of the machine (who should be doing what), rather than getting bogged down in procedural details.<\/li><li>Go back before going forward. Reflect on how the machine was working up until now. Tell the story of how we got here.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>If the machine didn\u2019t work, what broke? This is the proximate cause.<\/li><li>Why didn\u2019t things work as planned?<ul><li>Ask Five Why\u2019s to get at deeper causes.<\/li><li>Pinpoint a specific key attribute (for example, Thomas does not execute well, or Thomas does not perceive problems quickly.)<\/li><li>If this attribute is fixed next time, will the bad outcome still occur?<ul><li>In other words, if we fixed this part, would that prevent the problem?<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>If the problem is a faulty design with the machine, ask who was responsible and whether they\u2019re capable of designing the machine well.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Does the root cause a have pattern? Does it show repeatedly?<ul><li>This is the difference between \u201cThomas was careless\u201d to \u201cThomas is often careless.\u201d<\/li><li>If it is a pattern, is this due to bad training or lack of ability?<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>How should the people\/machines evolve as a result?<ul><li>Who should do what differently?<\/li><li>Do responsibilities need to be clarified?<\/li><li>Do machine designs need to be reworked?<\/li><li>Do people\u2019s fit need to be reevaluated?<\/li><li>Were principles violated? Are new principles needed?<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember that this type of questioning will upset people, and they may protect themselves in a number of ways, like fixating on details instead of lack of ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Remember that diagnosing problems should lead to improvements and outcomes. <\/strong>Otherwise it\u2019s just a waste of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Stay calm and rational. <\/strong>Don\u2019t overreact to a mistake or problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Avoid Monday morning quarterbacking\u2014don\u2019t evaluate a decision with limited information.<\/li><li>Understand the context the person was in. Was this decision a quality person would have made? Did they do the right things, but the outcome was out of their control?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are common root causes of problems with managers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>They are too distant from their reports.<\/li><li>They have problems detecting bad quality.<\/li><li>They have gotten accustomed to how bad things are (the boiling frog syndrome).<\/li><li>They can\u2019t admit they\u2019re unable to solve their own problems, and they don\u2019t escalate.<\/li><li>They fear being punished for admitting failure.<\/li><li>They fail to delegate their responsibility. They focus more on doing the tasks than on operating the machine.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Example of Root Cause Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Problem: The team deals with emergencies constantly and has to work overtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why? Because we don\u2019t have enough bandwidth to fix the issues that cause the emergencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why? Because the manager did not anticipate the problems and request more headcount to fix it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why? Because the manager is bad at planning for bad cases. (Root cause)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that you know all about diagnosing problems, the next step is finding solutions and solving <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-be-a-problem-solver-at-work\/\">problems in the workplace<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How does diagnosing problems work in the workplace? Why is it important to diagnose problems and solve them effectively? Diagnosing problems is an important part of Dalio&#8217;s 5 steps. When you recognize and diagnose problems, you can learn how to go about finding solutions. Learn how diagnosing problems works, and how you can do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":15874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,43,30],"tags":[129],"class_list":["post-15009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-management","category-self-improvement","category-work","tag-principles-life-and-work","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Diagnosing Problems at Work: Find Root Causes - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What does diagnosing problems at work mean? 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