Today, I learned about Analytical Thinking for Problem Solving. The training was very quick and very strict. Taught about what’s “the real problem” and “concern” thing. Definition of problem is something that occur which made some deviation, unknown the root cause, need to know the root cause, the option, and anticipation plan for the future. If all the concepts is checked, we do know that is the problem.
For example, there was a car accident near the office. So, is there any deviation? Of course, car accident is a deviation moment if we compare with daily activity. Do we know about the cause of the accident? No, we don’t know. We just hear, but we don’t know for sure. So, do we need to know? I mean, is that very important to us so we have to know what is the cause? No, we don’t have to know. It’s okay if we want to know, but it’s not the point. If we don’t know, we will be okay anyway. So, for point three, we know that it’s not the problem for us. It’s just the concern. So, do we have options? Yes, we have options, whether we go home without pass the road of the accident happened, or wait the victim car is removed from the road, and etc.
The second example, your boss asked you to create a report and you must finished today and give him in the end of the day. Is that any deviation? Yes, gave by boss a task for you to finish it, different from your routine non-busy activity. You don’t have to know what the cause is. You just have to finish the task your boss given to you because you DON’T HAVE ANY OPTION. That’s not the really problem.
What’s happened, it’s not certainly a problem. Something that you know for sure, it’s not a problem, it’s a concern that you have to solved due to stabilize the condition.
The unique way to find the certain cause is using analytic question. What, Where, when, Who. What’s the object of the problem, and what’s not the object of the problem but has closest connection with. Where the problem happened? And where the problem isn’t happened but has small difference with. When the problem happened? Single event or continuous event? Who is the main that get the problem and who is not?
From those questions, we can analyze, what is the assumption of the real cause. If any assumption isn’t makes sense and doesn’t match with the fact, it’s not the cause. One more thing, the root cause is only one, it never be any more than one cause. For example, fault server is because the system is failure, not the failure system and the fault of the operational technician.
Knowing the root cause using analytical method is very useful. We can make decision precisely, save time, and save cost.
September, 24 2013
syarif