My very first major Root Cause Analysis (RCA) gig was handed down to me by my then COO who briefed me that it would be preferable that the company had a good story to tell the Minister of Transport when he visits the railway company I worked for. My team had to repair a locomotive that bore the name of Namibia's highest national order of merit. As the unit had been out of operation for 3 years, the OEM design team had given up on the unit after replacing several components. The technical manuals were in Mandarin and we could only work after-hours on apart-time basis.
The media friendly part of the story was published on a national daily.
I have since been using RCA method to solve many tricky situations where I have no particular subject matter expertise other than my unabashed fascination for other people's problems. Since mid-last year, an opportunity arose for me to share the hacks of RCA to people in the asset management field. The first thing I make clear is my unhidden agenda to make them forget the popular quick and dirty 5-why technique for a week.
I've come to the realization that the predominant perception is that RCA is seen as an advanced technical fault-diagnosis technique for "real technical" roles like mechanics and people who walk with voltmeters in their free time. I do regularly get to talk to planners for instance who share reasonably complex scenarios their job roles throw at them. However, when they choose a project to share to demonstrate how they have applied the method to solve real-life business challenges revolves around bearings and bolts that were not tightened.
RCA is a general-purpose problem-solving skill that can be applied in fixing logistics problems, reducing labor-intensive workload, and increasing general engagement. It is curious that the asset management roles that come to mind when RCA is mentioned are the ones that do not traditionally have a say in fixing the asset management systems that require a full-on RCA to begin with. Root Cause Analysis is an evidence-led technique that relies on both creativity and critical thinking to solve problems. It is a travesty that such a superpower is left in the exclusive realm of engineering technocrats.
Melvin Ekandjo Root Cause Analysis Series
