HOW TO WRITE AN EFFECTIVE PROBLEM STATEMENT

As a Quality Professional this is something we will all have been faced with, an irate customer emailing or phoning to say they have an issue with defective parts/components. It is at this point that if you are able to establish the winning conditions to rectify the issue you can look forward to a successful outcome. However, the devil is in the detail, making issue resolution or continuous improvement interesting and challenging.

One of those devils that often gets overlooked is the need to construct an effective problem statement. By ensuring the problem statement is effective you are 50 to 80% of the way to resolving the issue, get it wrong and you will just be going round in ever decreasing circles.

What is a Problem Statement?

A problem statement describes an area of concern, a condition to be improved, or a difficulty to be eliminated. Therefore it is a description of an undesirable gap between the current level of performance and the future desired state of performance.

So why is it so difficult to write an effective Problem Statement?

One of the challenges in writing a brilliant problem statement is the distractions that come from factors beyond your control:

• Symptoms associated with the problem add to the confusion when attempting to describe the problem. For example, visiting the doctor's surgery and explaining how you have been experiencing pain in the back of your thigh down to the lower part of your leg, but it is only after careful consideration by the doctor that concludes the problem is in the sciatic nerve and originates in your lower back. Never make assumptions without the data, facts and all relevant information to make an informed decision, a patients self diagnosis can be misleading.
• Solutions are often an early consideration when wrestling with a problem. when faced with a problem alleviating pain as quickly as possible is a natural reaction. However, I cannot stress how important it is to avoid jumping into solutions and forming preconceived solutions until everyone involve with finding a solution to solve the problem has an understanding of how the current state is achieved.
• Another kneejerk reaction is to gallop off and search for the cause of the thing that is causing you pain, but this is natural and needs to be avoided when first describing the problem. Establishing the root cause will form part of the investigation and therefore should be reserved for the appropriate time in the cycle of the problem-solving process.
• Another natural reaction is to play the blame game. John Burroughs, Naturalist and Essayist, is quoted as saying "You can get discouraged many times, but you are not a failure until you begin to blame somebody else and stop trying."

In short, an effective problem statement should include absolute or relative measures of the problem but should be free of possible causes, solutions, and blame with careful consideration given to ensure that symptoms do not cloud the issue and become a distraction.

Key elements of an an effective problem statement include:

• Gap: identify the gap (pain) that exists today.
• Timeframe, location, and trend: describe when and where the problem was first observed and what kind of trend it is following.
• Impact: quantify the gap (cost, time, quality, environmental, personal, etc.).
• Importance: identify how important this gap is to the organisation, workforce, customer, etc. to better understand the urgency.

What Method Can I Employ to Author a Great Problem Statement?

The ability to articulate an effective problem statement is not simply a business skill – it is a life skill. How can children, youth and adults begin to solve problems if they have not been able to adequately describe them? This holds true for continuous improvement specialists.

The 5W2H (what, when, where, why, who, how, how much) method is deceptively simple. Ask the right questions in the right order and let the answers lead you to a great problem statement.

Example of Developing a Problem Statement

Let us walk through the 5W2H method for a manufacturing example.

Question 1:? What is the problem that needs to be solved?

• Window frames and parts are ending up in the assembly department missing required weep holes or slots.

Question 2:? Why is it a problem? (highlight the pain)

• If identified (visual inspection), the affected parts must be sent back for rework, thereby increasing the overall cost of manufacturing, creating higher inventory levels (WIP) and increasing risk since some of the defects may not be detected until later in the process, or worse, they may end up being incorrectly shipped to the job sites.

Question 3:? Where is the problem observed? (location, products)

• This problem is observed in the assembly department, downstream departments, as well as in the field with customer complaints and costly field repairs and replacements.

Question 4:?? Who is impacted? (customers, businesses, departments)

• This problem affects the assembly department which is tasked with trying to inspect for the error and react accordingly, rework occurring in the department/work cell responsible for weep holes and slots, the company in terms of cost, brand and reputation, and, most importantly, the customer who is affected by this problem if it makes it to the field.

Question 5:? When was the problem first observed?

• This has been an ongoing issue going back as far as memory serves in the long-term employees, but with increased volume and more customisation and higher complexity in design, the impact and severity of this problem has increased rapidly over the last two years.

?Question 6:? How is the problem observed? (symptoms)

• Customer (infield installation and service) complaints, increased warranty costs, manufacturing non-conformance reports (NCR). Complaints from assembly department team and increased costs in fabrication.

Question 7:? How often is the problem observed? (error rate, magnitude, trend)

• There is an observed 62,000 parts per million (PPM) for this specific defect, taking into consideration rework completed in-house and observed defects in the field.? The PPM is derived from the number of weeping holes and slots required per unit assembly versus the actual number of deficiencies overall observed for the same number of units.

Now it is your turn!

Using a problem you have encountered in your professional life, or a problem you are currently tasked to solve. Employ the 5W2H (what, when, where, why, who, how, how much) method and see where it takes you.

Teach this simple and effective method to your colleagues. Writing problem statements truly is a life skill and, when employed correctly, will place anyone in good stead to start solving the problem.