Page 51 - October 2020 Voices

Problem Solving: What Seems to be The Problem?

Sudhir Gautam, DL4

Step 1—Understand and define the problem

better
This is where you break the problem

into several parts to get a better perspective
from all possible angles. Example: Let’s say
I’m feeling tired during the day. I could
immediately decide that my problem is

lack of coffee and proper supplements. Or I
can list several other parts that will help me
understand the problem better. Am I getting
enough sleep? How’s my diet and exercise?

Am I drinking too much coffee after 4PM?
What does my bedroom environment look
like?
The deeper we get into the problem the

better we’re able to define it. The problem
solving battle is essentially won (or lost) in
this step.

Step 2—Identify the root cause —If we did
a deep dive into the problem in Step 1, we
already have a decent list of probable causes.
We can now either use common sense or

advanced root cause analysis tools like Pareto
Chart, Fishbone Diagram, FMEA, etc. to get
to the root cause(s).
In our example in Step 1, we might end

VOICES! | OCTOBER 2020 51