5 Why's and Why its insightful.

Getting down to the root of the problem

Why use the tool?

The 5 Whys is a simple problem-solving technique that helps users to get to the root of the problem quickly. Made popular in the 1970s by the Toyota Production System, the 5 Whys strategy involves looking at any problem and asking: "Why?" and "What caused this problem?"

Very often, the answer to the first "why" will prompt another "why" and the answer to the second "why" will prompt another and so on; hence the name the 5 Whys strategy.

Benefits of the 5 Whys include:

• It helps to quickly determine the root cause of a problem
• It is easy to learn and apply

How to use 5 Why's-

When looking to solve a problem, start at the end result and work backward (toward the root cause), continually asking: "Why?" This will need to be repeated over and over until the root cause of the problem becomes apparent.

Tip: The 5 Whys technique is a simple technique that can help you quickly get to the root of a problem. But that is all it is, and the more complex things get, the more likely it is to lead you down a false trail.

Example:

Following is an example of the 5 Whys analysis as an effective problem-solving technique:

1. Why is our client, unhappy? Because we did not deliver our services when we said we would.
2. Why were we unable to meet the agreed-upon timeline or schedule for delivery? The job took much longer than we thought it would.
3. Why did it take so much longer? Because we underestimated the complexity of the job.
4. Why did we underestimate the complexity of the job? Because we made a quick estimate of the time needed to complete it, and did not list the individual stages needed to complete the project.
5. Why didn't we do this? Because we were running behind on other projects. We clearly need to review our time estimation and specification procedures.

Key Points:

The 5 Whys strategy is an easy and often-effective way for uncovering the root of a problem. Because it is so elementary in nature, it can be adapted quickly and applied to most any problem.

Making Smart Choices Using Pareto Analysis

Choosing the Most Important Changes to Make

Pareto analysis is a very simple technique that helps you to choose the most effective changes to make. It uses the Pareto principle – the idea that by doing 20% of work you can generate 80% of the advantage of doing the entire job*. Pareto analysis is a formal technique for finding the changes that will give the biggest benefits. It is useful where many possible courses of action are competing for your attention.

How to Paretofy decisions:

To start using the tool, write out a list of the changes you could make. If you have a long list, group it into related changes.

Then score the items or groups. The scoring method you use depends on the sort of problem you are trying to solve. For example, if you are trying to improve profitability, you would score options on the basis of the profit each group might generate. If you are trying to improve customer satisfaction, you might score on the basis of the number of complaints eliminated by each change.

The first change to tackle is the one that has the highest score. This one will give you the biggest benefit if you solve it. The options with the lowest scores will probably not even be worth bothering with – solving these problems may cost you more than the solutions are worth.

Example:

A manager has taken over a failing service center. He commissions research to find out why customers think that service is poor.

• He gets the following comments back from the customers:
• Phones are only answered after many rings.
• Staff seem distracted and under pressure.
• Engineers do not appear to be well organized. They need second visits to bring extra parts. This means that customers have to take more holiday to be there a second time.
• They do not know what time they will arrive. This means that customers may have to be in all day for an engineer to visit.
• Staff members do not always seem to know what they are doing.
• Sometimes when staff members arrive, the customer finds that the problem could have been solved over the phone.

The manager groups these problems together. He then scores each group by the number of complaints, and orders the list:

• Lack of staff training: items 5 and 6: 51 complaints
• Too few staff: items 1, 2 and 4: 21 complaints
• Poor organization and preparation: item 3: 2 complaints

By doing the Pareto analysis above, the manager can better see that the vast majority of problems (69%) can be solved by improving staff skills.

Once this is done, it may be worth looking at increasing the number of staff members. Alternatively, as staff members become more able to solve problems over the phone, maybe the need for new staff members may decline.

It looks as if comments on poor organization and preparation may be rare, and could be caused by problems beyond the manager's control.

By carrying out a Pareto Analysis, the manager is able to focus on training as an issue, rather than spreading effort over training, taking on new staff members, and possibly installing a new computer system.

Key points:

Pareto Analysis is a simple technique that helps you to identify the most important problem to solve.

To use it:

1. List the problems you face, or the options you have available
2. Group options where they are facets of the same larger problem
3. Apply an appropriate score to each group
4. Work on the group with the highest score
5. Pareto analysis not only shows you the most important problem to solve, it also gives you a score showing how severe the problem is.

*This is only one application of this important 80/20 principle. It shows the lack of symmetry that almost always appears between work put in and results achieved. This can be seen in area after area of competitive activity. The figures 80 and 20 are illustrative – for example, 13% of work could generate 92% of returns.

Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian economist who noted that approximately 80% of wealth was owned by only 20% of the population. This was true in almost all the societies he studied.

Apples secret to success

The “secret” sauce of Apples success is so commonsensical that it has never occurred to most computer manufacturers.

In a nutshell I would think it goes something like this:

1. Deliver innovative “state-of-the-art” products and continually strive to improve them. (Equally applicable to hardware and software.)

2. Do not loose sight of the fact that we engineer and manufacture products for NON-EXPERT computer users. Make it friendly and simple. Then keep it that way! This does not in ANY way exclude powerful experts, but power must be wrapped in a non-threatening and non-intimidating velvet glove so to speak.

3. Aesthetics count for MUCH more than most people ever dreamed. Fit, finish, even packaging all denote quality or the lack of it. The whole total user experience from opening the box on day one to sending it off for recycling when the product is replaced with a newer version – they all have an impact on how the customer perceives the company and whether or not the customer will buy from us a 2nd or more time.

4. Be FAIR (even leaning toward generous) on warranty matters. A product that fails on the 366th day of life should be covered under a courtesy warranty if at all possible. The cost to the company of such good will gestures is negligible and the benefits incalculable over years of a customer’s buying life.

5. Do not be afraid to charge a premium price for a premium product. But if you proffer a “premium” product make damned sure it really is just that – head and shoulders above the competition. With cheap laptops available for under $400, it’s not always easy to explain to a user why they should pay at least three times that amount to buy our products. But the combo of fit, finish, tech, and service will make it work time and again. Price paid is long forgotten when a product fails to deliver the service or function it was purchased for. Quality, Quality, Quality is the key.

6. Marketshare means NOTHING! Better to have a solid and loyal 10% than to have a shaky and fickle 40% that will drive you to distraction, not appreciate or understand what you offer, nor be loyal over decades.

7. Support and Training should as much as possible be provided free of charge up to a ’saturation point’ for most customers. Whether they avail themselves of this support and training is up to the individual. But those who do will glean the most out of the product in the long run, and unlocking the mega-power that is inherent in Apple Software is worth the effort to learn how. Most do not know it’s even there, but those who do suddenly find themselves labeled as gurus and experts in their chosen fields- all because they really KNOW how to get the most out of their software and hardware. An expenditure of time and effort well made. (Also the fact that the training is free can save the company thousands of support phone calls.

Guiding a user to a local training session often will result in additional sales and upgrades just by getting them into the Apple Store once again. (I for one know this works like a champ and personally seldom walk out of an Apple Store having spent less than five hundred dollars on various pieces of software or hardware that I generally do not strictly need, but which go to me based purely on the “gee whiz” factor alone.

8. Integrate, integrate, integrate! Each and every Apple Product builds on others and opens features and functions that you find increasingly wonderful with each passing day. Email on my smart phone that deletes itself from my main mailbox when I delete it from the phone, movies I bought or rented being available on my iPod ad iPhone without my asking for them to be put there, and a of course iDisk that has saved my ass more times than I can count – all are examples of one or more Apple Products building the entire user experience and making it generally better with each additional component purchase! BRAVO APPLE! Computing the way it is supposed to be!

9. Be NICE to the customers! They’re not all perfect. And they make stupid mistakes and ask stupid questions and can generally be a pain in the ass. But without them, we don’t have a company nor a business. So polite, smiles, welcoming, and gently encouraging them to learn and explore their computers will assure and insure they keep coming back to Apple year in year out. (Not bad for you if as an employee have your retirement money is invested in Apple Stock! Remember that fact every time you have a difficult customer. It makes dealing with them easier!)