Manage Problems Immediately

Flabbergast customers with a fast response. Let us get in the habit of standing between our customers and any of their problems. The world is beautiful, and we need to see the beauty in the quirky situations that others see as problems.

Since we spend up to 60% of our time maintaining code already written by someone else, I supplement the Problem Resolution Design Pattern’s questions with these questions.  I would suggest you read this first to understand the stages of Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

This pattern is not limited to software. It can be used for any opportunity/problem in life since no success can come to anyone who does not know how to overcome difficulties, obstacles, and failures.

DISCOVERY/ ALERT

1. See a problem coming or potential problem with constant listening. Stop protecting data but teach how to analyze and Action it, set alerts, and look for anomalies. Waiting until problems are severe, then drowning your team in a flood of feedback is not helpful. Anticipation is an essential skill of the future, to see an issue, solve it in advance, see the world for what it is. The truth is to see the problems and what actual value it delivers.
2. Get a clear picture of the problem. When problems arise, question the issue, not the person. Information is actionable when it tells you something about the outside, the customer.

ANALYSIS/ DIAGNOSIS

Do you have a “Big problem” or an institutional problem? “Big problems” are complex and multifaceted that sprawl across enterprises, communities, and national borders. They ignore the divisions among industries, organizations, and professional fields.

Big problems are abstract issues and generally have five qualities in common: 

1. Enormous range of contributing factors.
2. Ambiguity reaching a straight forward  solution and getting consensus on priorities or approaches.
3. Diffuse responsibility with no central authority.
4. Diverse stakeholders with disparate interests and conflicting views.
5. Missing connections to match the available resources and the need.

If your issue is Big, the innovative solution rarely comes from deep inside the organization and its procedures. Instead, have a willingness to improvise and a knack for building coalitions among diverse, successful people who retain the idealism of youth.

Be passionate about identifying the root causes of problems and developing solutions. Many times, the barriers that hold us back are the mental walls of our construction. Reframing is the art of seeing familiar issues in a new light. When you see only problems, you do not see clearly.

Ask questions to help solve the problem.

1. 1. When, where did the problem begin?
   2. Who first noticed it?
   3. Are there several possible causes?
   4. What is the Impact of the problem?
   5. Who is affected?
   6. How soon must this be resolved?
   7. Are there other possible negative consequences?
   8. Is this part of a bigger problem? If so, how? We must address root problems, not symptoms.

DECISION

Every choice you make creates new problems, so you can only hope for good issues, the ones you want to solve.

1. Funnel Data collected into six dimensions of problem-solving framework:
   1. Leadership (who are the impacted people?)
   2. Personel (do you have the right people?)
   3. Timing (is this the right time?)
   4. Vision (what direction are you going in?)
   5. Priorities (are you distracted by this problem?)
   6. Values (are your values compromised?)
2. Swarm it. We need to value shared problem-solving, primarily if you draw from different disciplines. You do not need sole credit. Leaders need to use the 10/80/10 rule to find the best solution. Can this problem be replicated?
   1. Who has solved this successfully?
   2. What are several possible solutions?
   3. What time, expertise, and resources are needed for the solution?
   4. Will people buy into these solutions?
   5. How many of these solutions can be implemented?
   6. How long for each solution?
   7. How might these give a future advantage?
   8. What lessons can be learned?
   9. What future opportunities present themselves out of this solution?
3. Create a “speak up” environment for multi-optional solutions. Fight against the notion that you know everything. Leaders who resist this attitude change struggle with this environment.

ACTION

1. Bias Action, be faster, take the right steps: essential, responsible and deliver results. Do not obsess on plans. Instead, let strategic plans degenerate into actions using 80% of your energy on execution. Remember that you are there to solve your customers’ problems by meeting their needs. Fix their problems and satisfy their needs. Ideas have little worth without Action. Discovery is not better understanding but taking Action is empirical. If you get to a fork in the road, take it, try something, make progress, it is only in Action you will learn. Ten hours of thoughts are worth less than a 1-hour plan followed by 1-hour of Action then 1-hour of adjusting the plan. Focus on the pleasure of Action and the pain of Inaction. Action couples the critical next steps and clarifies the path to the goal. Action clarifies the imagination, which can overthink the number of outcomes. Overthinking it kills Action.
2. Be an agent of a positive result, an agent of change. Advanced leaders are disruptive. Solving big problems requires people with an innovative mindset, idealism, and entrepreneurial energy.

Stephen Choo Quan

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