Zen and The Science of Problem Solving

Zen and the Science
of Problem Solving
Richard Shainin
Executive Vice President
www.Shainin.com
Zen
Zen is contemplation.
It is enlightenment achieved through meditation.
Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

All rights reserved.
Structured Problem Solving
Definition Lean Management
Lean Management:
Is a (production) practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than
the creation of value for the end customer as wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. 1)
Principles for Lean Management 2) :
Customer Orientated
Eliminate Waste
Avoid Failures
Synchronize
Standardize
Production
Production
Employees
Processes
Processes
Level out
Improve
Enable
Continuous Improvement 1) www.wikipedia.com
2) www.tqm.com

Knowledge ≠ Understanding
Backwards Brain Bicycle

Challenges in Problem Solving
Performance Gap Rationale:
Ignore Address
Problem Problem

Problems that should be ignored
Juran’s Trivial Many
… no impact on end user.
… minimal contribution to waste.
… impacting arbitrary internal metrics.
Problems that should not have been ignored

Historical disasters…
… O ring burn through on space shuttle rockets (Challenger).
… Foam collision with protective heat shield tiles (Columbia).
… Packaging of sub-prime loans into equities with perceived low risk.
Problems that should not be ignored

Disasters waiting to happen…
… America’s failing infrastructure.
… Banks that are too big to fail.
… Internet security.
 Small Impact
Ignore Address  Unpleasant
Problem Problem  Delayed Impact
 Political Consequences

Ignore Address
 Long Term Impact
Problem Problem
Deploy Improve
Workaround System

Using Workarounds
A workaround is a bypass of a recognized

problem in a system. A workaround is typically a
temporary fix that implies that a genuine solution to
the problem is needed. Workarounds are frequently
as creative as true solutions, involving outside the box
thinking in their creation. *
*) www.Wikipedia.com

Ignore Address
Problem Problem
Deploy Improve  Expedient

Workaround System  No Control Over System

Using Workarounds
Pro: Temporary workarounds …
… buy time to find hidden root causes to eventually improve the system.
… demonstrate resourcefulness and an organizational commitment to
“doing whatever it takes” to meet a goal.
… put us back in control in spite of the obstacles that life puts in our way.
Cautions: Workarounds to systems you control…

… add waste.
… should be temporary while a system improvement is developed.
… might encourage starting problem solving at the solution stage rather than
finding root cause

Ignore Address
Problem Problem
Deploy Improve  Expedient

Workaround System  No Control Over System
 Workarounds increase
One Time Temporary Ongoing waste.
Event Fix Change  They avoid the
consequences
associated with the
original problem.
Ignore Address
Problem Problem
Improve Deploy  Reduce Waste

System Workaround
Find Redesign  Add Functionality

Root Cause System
 Retarget Performance

Change the System
Design Change Process Change

Shift the distribution Decrease the variation
Failures Failures
Performance Distribution Performance Distribution
Design changes are sometimes accompanied by negative side effects:

 Higher costs
 Need to revalidate
 New failure modes
 No assurance that original problem is truly solved

When to use Shainin Problem Solving
Change the System
Design Change Process Change

Conventional
Shift the distribution
approach: Decrease the variation
shift the variation
Failures Failures
Performance Distribution Performance Distribution
Understand what is driving

this difference
 Causes are not intuitively obvious.

 Understanding how to do this is more difficult than just shifting
the entire distribution.

Find Redesign  Diagnose Problem

Root Cause System Source
What’s How’s This What’s

Wrong? Work? Different
Quick Fix Explore Known Find Hidden

and Suspect Causes
Factors

Overview Approaches
What’s different?
Understanding Permanent problem elimination

the failure
What’s
Technical
wrong? Situational fix of the current
Problem
Issue
Understanding Iterative elimination of

the system contributing factors
How’s this work?

Overview Approaches
What’s different?
Expert Judgment
8D*
Root Cause “Red X“

Problem “Green Y“
„know“ what
What’s Did it the root
Technical work?
Problem wrong? cause is
 If the problem is “really known” the

duration can be very fast.
 There is a very high risk that this
approach turns into “trial and error”
Brainstorming based  the duration can get very long.
approach
*) if not combined with other methodology

Overview Approaches
What’s different?
DMAIC (Six Sigma)

 We are looking at relationships that we
already know.
 Can get very complex.
What’s  Duration gets very long when complexity
Technical
Problem wrong? rises. Testing all is no option.
 Risk of crossing out the potential causes
because they are “in specification”.
 Risk of applying many changes without
knowing which is the right one.
Root Cause successfully found *
How’s this work?

*) only possible, if root cause was on the list

Overview Approaches
What’s different?

What’s
Technical
Problem wrong? FACTUAL (Shainin)
 As soon as we have BOBs and

WOWs we know that the Red X is
captured.
 The duration is moderate.
 FACTUAL has the highest likelihood
Brainstorming based that the problem will be completely
solved.
approach

Overview Approaches
Contrast Based Approach
Root Cause “Red X”

Problem “Green Y”
„know“ what
Experience Did it the root
Technical work?
Problem Based cause is
Approach
Root Cause successfully found *
Brainstorming Based
Approach *) only possible, if root cause was on the list

Passion for Finding Hidden Causes
When complex systems fail to meet expectations there are often

hidden causes at work. Uncovering those hidden causes is essential
for developing sustainable solutions.
Is your problem simple or complex?

Solving Complex Problems
Three Phases
1. Investigate
2. Confirm
3. Solve
Effort for Different Approaches
Effort for Solving the Problem
Experience Based
Approach
Complexity of a System

Methodology Selection
Contrast Based Brainstorming Based
complex systems many things are not

as they should be
results can only be experience
based did not
process based
seen after long time problems
work at the
1st shot
fixes are expensive
lots of parts
simple available
limited parts systems
available
fast solution is
needed
known causes
fixes that can be tested easily
it does not matter when we fail
Experience Based

Why engineers are comfortable with making design changes
to fix problems.
Design
High
Change
Approach
Risk of
Unknown
Causal
Understanding
of Variation
Low Approach
Low High
Difficulty to Understand
Cause/Effect

Sponsoring Projects
Results Problem Solving Methods
Ineffective Effective
 Frequent product and  Solutions are found but not
process changes. implemented.
L  Culture of excuses:  Projects drag on.
E Weak –Perception that defects are
 Personnel turnover is high.
inherent in process.
A –Lots of activity, inconsistent Customers are frustrated.
D results.
E  Unhappy customers.
R  Problems contained.  Low cost of quality.
S  Plateau reached, as low  Successful product
H hanging fruit is picked launches.
I Strong clean.  High throughput.
P  Customer focus, but uneven  High customer loyalty.
results.

Sponsoring Projects
Response
High
LEAN
Program
Effectiveness WASTE
Low
Ineffective Effective
Methods Methods

Zen and the Science
of Problem Solving
Richard Shainin
Executive Vice President
www.Shainin.com

Zen and The Science of Problem Solving

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Zen and the Science

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Principles for Lean Management 2) :

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Backwards Brain Bicycle

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Performance Gap Rationale:

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Problems that should not have been ignored

Problems that should not be ignored

Performance Gap Rationale:

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Performance Gap Rationale:

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

A workaround is a bypass of a recognized

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Performance Gap Rationale:

Deploy Improve  Expedient

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Cautions: Workarounds to systems you control…

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Performance Gap Rationale:

Deploy Improve  Expedient

Performance Gap Rationale:

Improve Deploy  Reduce Waste

Find Redesign  Add Functionality

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Change the System

Design Change Process Change

Performance Distribution Performance Distribution

Design changes are sometimes accompanied by negative side effects:

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Design Change Process Change

Performance Distribution Performance Distribution

Understand what is driving

 Causes are not intuitively obvious.

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Performance Gap Rationale:

Find Redesign  Diagnose Problem

What’s How’s This What’s

Quick Fix Explore Known Find Hidden

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Understanding Permanent problem elimination

Understanding Iterative elimination of

How’s this work?

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Root Cause “Red X“

 If the problem is “really known” the

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

DMAIC (Six Sigma)

Root Cause “Red X“

Root Cause successfully found *

How’s this work?

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Root Cause “Red X“

 As soon as we have BOBs and

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

Root Cause “Red X”

Root Cause successfully found *

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.

When complex systems fail to meet expectations there are often

Is your problem simple or complex?

Copyright © 2015, Red X Holdings LLC, a Shainin Company.