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People who've studied Total Quality and Six Sigma are quite familiar with the Seven QC Tools ¹ and the New Seven Tools ². They are all approaches to structured problem-solving.

One of the tools in the first group is cause and effect analysis. In the 70s a variation to the approach was introduced called CEDAC³. CEDAC works for a number of reasons. First, it's a visual approach that encourages people to reconsider what they've proposed and it brings others into the problem-solving process both in planned and serendipitous ways. In my posting Revisitng the Toyota Way earlier this month, I mentioned that I was working with a client team using Jeffrey Liker's book, The Toyota Way. One of the decisions we made was to put CEDAC boards in prominent places at each of the divisions. We've got four more days of group discussions with the book. Following that I will be introducing the team to alternatives to cause and effect diagrams. I'll be using David Straker's book, Rapid Problem Solving with Post-It® Notes.

I selected Straker's book mostly because he has a straight-forward presentation of his material. He uses a good mix of examples and graphics alongside his practical writing. Straker introduces six tools in three categories: lists, trees, and maps. These tools are easy to learn and to apply. The F.O.G. Factor is one of the more useful distinctions Straker introduces. He urges people to tag their notes with F=fact, O=opinion, and G=guess. This is especially important at the early stages of group problem-solving. It gives people the encouragement to express their thoughts.

I have one criticism. Like many people who use structured problem-solving approaches, Straker uses terminology that suggests these tools and techniques will lead to correct solutions. His discussion of the FOG Factor is one of the places that shows up. He claims that opinions are un-provable facts. He goes on to say,

"Opinions have the widest range of possible truth."

That is just not so. Opinions are expressions of our judgement. "It is a good day for fishing," is neither provable or unprovable. It is an opinion. Opinions are either useful or not useful for taking care of ones concerns in some domain of action. In contrast, statements of facts are either true or false. "The sun is shining," or "The wind is blowing at 35 MPH," is confirmable or not. When we claim that we are making a statement of fact we stand ready to offer evidence that what we have said is true.

I won't go on any further in this posting discussing facts and opinions. I raise these points to warn people to use facts, opinions, and speculations (guesses) appropriately in their problem-solving activities. In my experience, the use of structured problem-solving will lead to good solutions and better solutions, but not correct solutions. It is an approach that results in being more effective than we were in the past.

In spite of my criticism, I urge you to buy the book and introduce structured problem-solving to your teams.

1. run chart, Pareto chart, flow chart, cause and effect diagram, histogram, scatter diagram, and control chart [ ⇑ back ]
2. affinity diagram, relations diagram, tree diagram, matrix diagram, prioritization matrix, arrow diagram, and process decision program chart [ ⇑ back ]
3. Cause and Effect Diagram with the Addition of Cards [ ⇑ back ]