“Magic arises from the illimitable mysteries of cause and effect; to witness the effect is to surmise the cause.” – Teller (Penn & Teller) There are many approaches to finding root causes. Perhaps none are as effective, and satisfying, as “finding the smoking gun.” This means finding the effect of…
It's no secret that process improvement has played a crucial role in serving the military for decades, but this recent process improvement success might be one of the most surprising of them all. Out of fourty-four project nominees, the Process Support Division Black Belt Team at Letterkenny Army Depot recently…
Well it’s that time of year, when being fat and jolly is starting to feel overrated. Your summer and fall clothes have been put away with care and all the winter attire, including lots of big sweaters and stretchy leggings encourage our bad eating behavior. How do we snap out…
My 22-year-old son James got sick over the holidays. The rest of the family was on a trip while he was at home, so I wasn't able to help much. My suggestion to him? "Go to the emergency room." Healthcare Process Problems He went there on New Year's Day, which…
Root Cause Analysis is the method of finding the source of process problems by uncovering their origin or “root." This is in contrast to focusing on fixing the symptoms or effects of process issues. If a “root cause” is removed or neutralized then the undesirable effects will no longer impact…