Learn how to problem-find before you problem-solve

Problem-finding must come before problem-solving. Otherwise, we might be solving the wrong problem.

How do you identify the critical problem to solve?

Have you ever “fixed” something that ended up not being broken? Sometimes our solutions fail because we are solving the wrong problem, and we can avoid this situation by engaging in problem-finding before we engage in problem-solving.

This article will teach you three strategies that you or your team can use for problem-finding.

1. The 5 Whys?
2. The 80/20 Rule
3. Story Telling

How to use the 5-whys to uncover root causes

This simple habit delivers a significant impact. Here's how it works. You ask "Why?" 5 times. It's that simple.

Let's walk through an example. Imagine a conversation between a father and son.

• Dad: Why are you home in the middle of the day?
• Kid: Dad, I can't go to class.
• Dad: Why?
• Kid: The car won't start
• Dad: Why?
• Kid: The battery is dead
• Dad: Why is the battery dead?
• Kid: It's been an issue; I think the alternator isn't working.
• Dad: Why do you think that?
• Kid: It's one of the error codes on the dashboard.

The key is to move past symptoms (car won’t start) to causal factors (bad alternator, or maybe no maintenance).

Problem-finding must come before problem-solving. Otherwise, we might be solving the wrong problem.

Suppose the dad stopped after even the third why. He'd be replacing a battery that would soon be dead. You can imagine additional questions emerging after this dialogue about underlying issues like regular maintenance.

Five isn't a magical number, but it's usually enough to get to underlying causes and not so many that you start to frustrate people. The key is to move past symptoms to causal factors.

I don't feel like every question has to be, "Why?" Asking "How? When? What? or Where?" can also be helpful, but "Why?" seems to be the most effective at getting to the cause of things.

I will use the 5-Whys in one of two ways:

1. I tell everyone I'm using it to facilitate a discussion challenging the team to keep digging deeper.
2. I can also use it subtly in a conversation by keeping a curious posture and continuing to ask questions.

This habit is a great one to teach your team, and it will empower each member to do the discovery work necessary for leadership.

The key is to move past symptoms to causal factors.

Reflection Questions:

1. When do you not ask why and treat a symptom rather than a cause?
2. When will you apply the 5-Whys?

Using the 80/20 rule to problem-find

The 80/20 rule (or Pareto Principle) tells us that 80% of output typically comes from 20% of the input. Here are some common examples:

• In a group project, 20% of the people do 80% of the work.
• 80% of a company’s revenue comes from 20% of the company’s products.
• 20% of customer issues generate 80% of the complaints.

Have you ever “fixed” something that ended up not being broken? Sometimes our solutions fail because we are solving the wrong problem

Once you understand the 80/20 rule, you’ll begin to see it all over. There are two big ideas here I want you to see.

1. Not all problems or causes are equally important, and some have much more impact than others.?
2. There may not be one singular root cause. Instead, it might be a cluster of reasons that have an outsized influence.

Knowing that the 80/20 rule exists is an essential concept to help you focus and prioritize, but to do that, you need to find that 20%

That second point is crucial because I’ve seen myself and others get stuck trying to find the root cause. I may have already identified multiple problems that would have had a tremendous impact if fixed. But I was convinced there was one singular underlying cause to solve them all, which usually isn’t the case.

So about now, you may be thinking, “This is great, but how do I identify that 20 percent?” Knowing that the 80/20 rule exists is an essential concept to help you focus and prioritize, but to do that, you need to find that 20%.?

Finding the 20 of the 80/20 begins with gathering information

We start by collecting data that we can make visible and organize to identify the impactful 20%.? You probably have access to a lot of information you need, but it may require some work to get it together.?

Here are three places to look for information that will lead you to find the 20 of your 80/20.

1. Reviews. Are you holding regular reviews for yourself or 1on1s with your direct reports? Both can be rich sources of information about how things have been going over time.
2. Interviews. The core problems may be in an unfamiliar area, and interviews can help you learn from the experience of others. When conducting interviews, you can leverage the techniques of “5-Whys” and “Tell me a story” mentioned in this article.
3. Data you already have. Do you have staff surveys or customer surveys? Perhaps you have a list of customer complaints or product feature requests. They can be rich pockets of insight.

Ok, now you’ve gathered a lot of information, and it will need some structuring to bring out the root causes.

You need to organize the information gathered to identify the 20 of your 80/20

It can be pretty overwhelming to have a big data pool and not be sure where to start. I’ll briefly introduce two strategies I like to organize a data set.

Affinity diagraming is a simple but powerful process to help you identify themes.

Oxford defines affinity as a similarity of characteristics suggesting a relationship. So in affinity diagraming, we are organizing information based on similar characteristics.

Sticky notes on a whiteboard is my preferred context for affinity diagramming. If you’re on a distributed team, there are some great online whiteboard tools. Let’s walk through the simple steps to create an affinity diagram.?

1. Start by getting all the data pieces onto individual sticky notes. These can be on the board or on a table nearby.?
2. Have the team read over the board silently first
3. As people see commonalities, have them call them out.
4. Arrange the notes in clusters or columns?
5. As groups form, use a sticky note of a different color to give a name to the group
6. As a team, discuss observations from the affinity diagram

Affinity diagramming creates new visibility for a broad set of data. It can be a helpful tool for you and your team to identify the 20% that will make a big difference.

Process mapping lets you see from a new perspective

When a team asks me for help solving a problem, one place I like to begin is mapping the process. Most often, no one person knows the whole process. Team members are usually surprised by how much they don’t know. Seeing it all together in one place provides the visibility needed for insight.?

Process mapping uses specific shapes to map out all the steps from beginning to end. They can be simple or complicated. You can organize them around stages or people. There is a lot of flexibility, and how you do it depends on your context.?

Creately has a great guide if you want to learn the basics of building a process map. Process mapping is a helpful tool to bring visibility, and seeing the whole process often allows you to identify the fundamental problems that have the most impact.

Use storytelling to identify the problem that needs to be solved

Problem-finding doesn’t have to be a formal process. It can be very conversational. When I do a design audit of a department, team or process, I begin with interviews. I’ll interview people from different roles and relationships and just ask them to describe to me how this works.?

Teach this to me like I was a new hire.

To take a genuine learners approach, you have to set aside what you think you already know about how things work. This approach can be hard for both you and the person you are interviewing. Phrases like, “teach this to me like I was a new hire” can help frame the conversation.?

This perspective is one of the reasons why bringing in an outside consultant can be so impactful. They don’t already know how the process works and can ask the “dumb” questions. Sometimes I’ll ask a question everyone in the room feels like they already know the answer to, but when I ask, they all have a different reply. This phenomenon usually leads to some good discussion.?

You can implement the 5-whys in these interviews, but you really want to go beyond that and use all the questions words of who, what, where, when, how… Here are a few things to look for in your interviews:

• Hacks. Are people having to hack the prescribed system, or even break the rules, to get their job done. There are probably some underlying problems to uncover.
• Confusion. How often do you get the answer, “I don’t know,” when asking how something works?
• Discrepancy. Do different people give different answers to the same question?
• Redundancy. Is the same work being done by multiple people? Dig in to see why this is happening.
• Delays. Are there unnecessary delays in the current system? Look to see what is causing these.

I usually take long-form notes and record my interview if possible. Shortly after an interview, I will process my notes, capturing insights on post-its. I’ll then use a process like affinity diagramming to organize them and identify root causes.

Getting Started

We covered a lot in this article, and you don’t have to apply all of it at once. Here are three options to start problem-finding.

1. When a problem is surfaced in a team meeting, facilitate the 5-whys to see if you can identify the root cause.
2. Schedule a time with your team to map out the core process for your team to deliver value, whether that is a product or service.
3. Each month, choose a step in your process map and interview team members asking them to teach it to you like you were a new hire.?

This post is part of an upcoming Design Sprint Guide, where I walk through how to run design sprints and share lessons learned from facilitating them both in-person and online. The Design Sprints Guide will release at the end of 2022, and you can explore other future guides at everyday.design.