Root Cause Analysis
8D or Eight Disciplines for Problem Solving uses many of the most common tools for developing a path to get to the Root Cause. 8D does have one intersting characteristic. The 8D uses the IS/IS NOT exercise to gather facts and do comparative analysis for the purpose of determining where the root cause is not. Let me repaet that. The 8D process attempts to gather facts to prove where the problem is not. After sufficient facts have been gathered the possible causes are eliminated by proving they are not the root cause. This is typically not understood when using 8D as most people are trying to find the root cause directly instead of finding out what it is not.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
I total agree with this, when investigating complex problems, it is an important step to determine were the problem is not, in order to focus down to the root cause.