Comments on: Fire Fighting vs. Root Cause Problem Solving http://www.leanblog.org/2008/05/fire-fighting-vs-root-cause-problem/ Mark Graban's leanblog.org - Lean Healthcare, Lean Thinking, Lean Manufacturing, Toyota Production System Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:59:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mark Graban http://www.leanblog.org/2008/05/fire-fighting-vs-root-cause-problem/#comment-3836 Mark Graban Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:13:00 +0000 http://leanblog.bigbigdesign.net/2008/05/fire-fighting-vs-root-cause-problem-solving/#comment-3836 Scott- when you continually copy and paste the same comment into my blog (and others), I consider that spam. That is not an appropriate way of marketing your firm.<br/><br/>You are welcome to post "real" comments, not just cutting and pasting stuff. Scott- when you continually copy and paste the same comment into my blog (and others), I consider that spam. That is not an appropriate way of marketing your firm.

You are welcome to post “real” comments, not just cutting and pasting stuff.

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]]> By: Anonymous http://www.leanblog.org/2008/05/fire-fighting-vs-root-cause-problem/#comment-3573 Anonymous Sun, 18 May 2008 03:40:00 +0000 http://leanblog.bigbigdesign.net/2008/05/fire-fighting-vs-root-cause-problem-solving/#comment-3573 We now use this process in our morning meeting to help focus the group. Too often, I had noticed we kept jumping into solving the problem before we had identified the problem and determined the root cause. It helps us FOCUS daily when problems do occur.<br/><br/>Problem Solving – Rational Process<br/><br/>1. Which specific problem are we working on now? <br/>Define the problem!<br/>2. Do we know the cause of the problem?<br/>3. Has the cause been fixed?<br/>4. Have we reapplied the fix to other similar items?<br/>5. Have we prevented it reoccurring?<br/><br/>KNOW WHERE YOU ARE IN THE PROCESS<br/><br/>When the answer is I don’t know, or no, STOP! This is the step which must be worked on. It is premature, and pure waste of time to discuss anything in the later steps. We now use this process in our morning meeting to help focus the group. Too often, I had noticed we kept jumping into solving the problem before we had identified the problem and determined the root cause. It helps us FOCUS daily when problems do occur.

Problem Solving – Rational Process

1. Which specific problem are we working on now?
Define the problem!
2. Do we know the cause of the problem?
3. Has the cause been fixed?
4. Have we reapplied the fix to other similar items?
5. Have we prevented it reoccurring?

KNOW WHERE YOU ARE IN THE PROCESS

When the answer is I don’t know, or no, STOP! This is the step which must be worked on. It is premature, and pure waste of time to discuss anything in the later steps.

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]]> By: Mark Graban http://www.leanblog.org/2008/05/fire-fighting-vs-root-cause-problem/#comment-3572 Mark Graban Sat, 17 May 2008 15:31:00 +0000 http://leanblog.bigbigdesign.net/2008/05/fire-fighting-vs-root-cause-problem-solving/#comment-3572 You raise an interesting question, Klaxophone. I think you have to be careful about hiring more people unless you KNOW you're going to have growth so you can give them productive work to do, long-term.<br/><br/>If you hire and then drive waste out of the process, you run the risk of having more people than you need. We always want to be careful, with our lean improvements, that we don't allow productivity improvement to drive layoffs. I think we also have a responsibility to NOT overhire.<br/><br/>I'm not sure if I agree that the OT would be a workaround. Chronic OT is probably a workaround for not having enough people (or for having too much waste). Short-term OT with a specific purpose might be much more cost effective (and more in lines with "respect for people") than hiring new people and maybe feeling pressured to have to get rid of them after improvements are made.<br/><br/>I do agree with your point that everybody needs SOME "idle" time in the day to work on continuous improvement. You can't run a machine at 100% utilization and you can't run a person at 100% utilization either. You raise an interesting question, Klaxophone. I think you have to be careful about hiring more people unless you KNOW you’re going to have growth so you can give them productive work to do, long-term.

If you hire and then drive waste out of the process, you run the risk of having more people than you need. We always want to be careful, with our lean improvements, that we don’t allow productivity improvement to drive layoffs. I think we also have a responsibility to NOT overhire.

I’m not sure if I agree that the OT would be a workaround. Chronic OT is probably a workaround for not having enough people (or for having too much waste). Short-term OT with a specific purpose might be much more cost effective (and more in lines with “respect for people”) than hiring new people and maybe feeling pressured to have to get rid of them after improvements are made.

I do agree with your point that everybody needs SOME “idle” time in the day to work on continuous improvement. You can’t run a machine at 100% utilization and you can’t run a person at 100% utilization either.

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]]> By: klaxophone http://www.leanblog.org/2008/05/fire-fighting-vs-root-cause-problem/#comment-3570 klaxophone Sat, 17 May 2008 14:05:00 +0000 http://leanblog.bigbigdesign.net/2008/05/fire-fighting-vs-root-cause-problem-solving/#comment-3570 "If you invest a bit of time on process improvement (even if it requires a few hours of overtime), you will likely find recurring time savings from improving the process instead of fighting the same fires over and over again."<br/><br/>This might be seen as more fire fighting. Instead of working overtime, employ enough people so everyone has some otherwise-idle time to think about root causes and process improvements. “If you invest a bit of time on process improvement (even if it requires a few hours of overtime), you will likely find recurring time savings from improving the process instead of fighting the same fires over and over again.”

This might be seen as more fire fighting. Instead of working overtime, employ enough people so everyone has some otherwise-idle time to think about root causes and process improvements.

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]]> By: Brian Buck http://www.leanblog.org/2008/05/fire-fighting-vs-root-cause-problem/#comment-3568 Brian Buck Fri, 16 May 2008 14:10:00 +0000 http://leanblog.bigbigdesign.net/2008/05/fire-fighting-vs-root-cause-problem-solving/#comment-3568 "When time is available in the day, are we chatting about "American Idol" or working on small process improvements (or "kaizen")"<br/><br/>BWA HA HA HA HA HA<br/><br/>Great post Mark! I found this hilarious since I have heard the American Idol conversation at all places I have worked! “When time is available in the day, are we chatting about “American Idol” or working on small process improvements (or “kaizen”)”

BWA HA HA HA HA HA

Great post Mark! I found this hilarious since I have heard the American Idol conversation at all places I have worked!

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