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Should we do root cause analyses?

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Stéphane Parent Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker Prince Edward Island, Canada
We often read and hear that we should not rehash the past but rather focus on the solution or the future.

How do you balance this perspective with a technique such as root cause analysis, where the focus is truly on what happened?
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Keith Novak Tukwila, Wa, United States
Nov 15, 2019 2:25 PM
Replying to Stéphane Parent
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Interesting! Everyone seems to say we need to spend time to figure out the exact cause. This runs counter to popular contemporary wisdom that states why something went wrong is less important than where we go from here.I'm sure there is a happy medium in there.
Some problems happen under unique circumstances and we can be fairly sure they won't occur again. When they occur in the course of normal everyday business, if we don't investigate how they happened, how can we say they won't keep happening?
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Eric Simms Senior Program Manager Baltimore, Maryland, United States
In my experience most people who don't want to analyze a problem's root cause don't want to do the hard work needed to resolve it, or they want the problem to continue for some reason, or they don't want others to realize they caused the problem.
One needs to understand why a problem occurred to minimize the chances of it happening again in the future. Root cause analysis has been at the heart of nearly every major advancement or discovery in human history, and is necessary to progress.
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Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD Senior Project Manager| Infosys Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Only if you want to find the root cause of the problem ;-)
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Padmagandhini GS India
Is there a process document that you have for leverage on the RCA process, when , what triggers, templates?
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Pavan Maddi
Community Champion
Buona Vista, Singapore
Balancing solutions and root cause analysis involves learning from the past without dwelling on it. Identify the root cause to prevent future issues, then quickly shift focus to actionable steps for improvement.
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Verónica Elizabeth Pozo Ruiz RYLAI Access Control Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador
If we only focused on the solution actual or what happens in the future, the problem would probably continue to appear, since we're attending only the inmediate causes of a problem. To find a truly effective solution that prevents the problem from recurring, it is essential to find the root cause, which involves investigating past and present events.
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Eduard Hernandez
Community Champion
Product Operations Program Manager Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain
I'd be very sad to stop using techniques like the Five Why's or the Fishbone diagram as part of the RCA. They are useful to understand what went wrong and prevent future occurrences, plus they give a great opportunity to put brains together with the team.
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