Philip Crosby’s Reflections on Quality — January 13, 2021

10: You can create solutions to complicated problems by being the only one to break those complicated problems down to their basic causes.

Maybe it just means that I work in the right field, but there are no activities at work quite as cathartic as process mapping and root cause analysis. I also believe the two are closely linked, with process mapping allowing a step-by-step view of activities throughout the organization. This macro view enables individuals at all levels to identify bottlenecks and other inefficiencies in their work at the micro level; this is a powerful tool, that should you be willing to invest the time can yield impressive results by, as Mr. Crosby stated, breaking complicated problems into their basic causes.

Where process mapping is a way to identify efficiencies in process components, root cause analysis is typically conducted in the event something specific has gone wrong, resulting in a corrective action. The biggest risk in addressing a problem is treating symptoms, not causes. This is why the first step after identifying and containing an issue or non-conformance is to determine why it happened at a fundamental level. It not only makes these things actionable, allowing for real, impactful change, but it also makes them easily understood for everyone impacted.