Recurring problems are a point of view
Andrew Vermes
Retired. ... I have hung up my Problem Solving hat. One suggestion: use experience carefully. Value the people that bring you contrary information- they’ll teach you something you didn’t know.
Recurring problems are a point of view- and it isn’t helpful.
"Have you seen this before?†is on my top 10 list of unhelpful questions when we’re talking about a problem.
What this question too often leads to is the assumption that two events are somehow linked- without any evidence that indicates a link.
Consider this example:
Each one of these is different, though the symptom for the end user is the same. What makes the question so dangerous, is the inclination to look for correlations when we assume that problems are related. Sometimes they are, but when they’re not they trigger a search for correlated events. Looking for correlations with a set of diverse problems will drive you mad and waste heaps of time.
So whenever you hear “has it happened before?â€, do step in and stop the conversation. Suggest some alternative questions:
1.??????What exactly did you see when you noticed there was a problem?
2.??????When did you first notice that?
3.??????When was the last time this process was working normally?
?A common measure of Problem Management effectiveness is recurring problems. Unless you are certain that something IS a recurrence, then it’s probably something different. An alternative way to measure effectiveness is User/Customer Lost Minutes, counted for each individual service or application. Tracking this gives an indication of progress in eliminating the many and various issues that can impact any complex service or process, and demonstrate that your Problem Management strategy is working.
?How do you know your problem management efforts are yielding results?