The structured problem solving roadmap - Becker's Hospital ... 22, Friday/F… · The structured problem solving roadmap A structured approach that the non-technical leader can use

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The structured problem solving roadmapA structured approach to technical problem

solving for the executive leader.

David X Bonnar

Senior Customer Care Manager, Infor


The structured problem solving roadmap

A structured approach that the non-technical leader can use to manage IT

teams during problem resolution activities. The SPSR is based around 5 phases,

and the use of focused, targeted questions to guide the team toward resolution.

What is the SPSR?



Origins & sources

Novell Inc.

For their Netware

Certified Engineers

(CNE) program in

the 90’s

Grundfos

Pumps

Manufacturing

Co, USA.

QA/QI programs

IT

My work as an IT

Manager and CIO over

20+ years.

Michael J.

Marquardt

(2014)

Leading with Questions.

San Francisco: Jonssey-

Bass

Bill Creech

(1994)

The Five Pillars of TQM.

New York:

Plume/Penguin



My goal for today

The takeaway from our talk should be at least three things:

Provide you as non-

technical leaders with a

tool you can use and by

using, teach.

1

An understanding that

following a problem

solving method is good

practice.

2

An awareness that non-

technical leaders can

add real value when

they help their technical

problem resolution

teams to remain

focused during crisis.

3



A bit about me

I’m an IT and business professional having

served mostly in a CIO or VP/IT role during

my career.



A note about teams

The members for most problem solving

teams in larger organizations morph

and flow as the problem moves through

the five phases.

Having a common, documented approach

to problem resolution, understood by

everyone on the team, is a great way to

facilitate (insure) communication and

integration of efforts.



The how

My intent is to be highly

practical as for must of us,

the theory is obvious.

Today, we will simply focus on

the five phases of basic

problem solving which, taken

together, form a structured

approach or a “roadmap” to

problem resolution.



The why

Today, we will simply focus on

the five phases of basic

problem solving which, taken

together, form a structured

approach or a “roadmap” to

problem resolution.

My intent is to be highly

practical as for must of us,

the theory is obvious.



The what

PREVENT

CONTAIN

RESOLVE

DETECT

DEFINE


Common opportunities

Weak points to question

PREVENT

CONTAIN

RESOLVE

DETECT

DEFINE

Undocumented

Skipped

Vs solved

Late detection

Incomplete

Unexecuted

Inadequate

Premature

Late alarming

Unclear

Phase skipped

Uncommunicated

Impermanent

Late forming

Unshared

Soft Wired

Undocumented

Imprecision

Untimely

Denial

The common weak points are documented to provide a check list of targeted questions for the leader. Ask about each. Use questions starting

with “How did we do ….” to get the team looking for improvement opportunities, and also to teach the team about the structure of problem solving.



DETECT

Communicate

Be sure to share the alert around an issue with

other responders so that they are aware of who is

working to solve the detected issue. Avoid too

many cooks at a critical time.

Here’s the deal

If someone knew before your team knew, then

there is room for improvement in the DETECT

phase. Your team should know before anyone

else that something is wrong in their area of

responsibility.

Detection has to happen before a problem can be tackled.



DETECT

How & when do we become aware that a problem has been detected?

Best practice Standard practice Nightmare practice

Analytics say ‘something isn’t right System alarm Customer report

Early measure out of range User report Ransom Note

We appear to be moving in the wrong direction today.Advance Real-time Too late



DEFINE

Don’t try to contain or resolve

a problem until it is defined and

understood.

Communicate: Be sure to share

your definition of the issue with all

involved so that everyone is

working to solve the right thing.



CONTAIN

Stop the bleeding. Normally, Contain

involves workarounds.

Communicate, let all

involved know what the

workaround (Contain)

actions are, and that the

issue is not completely

resolved.



RESOLVE

The fourth step in the SPSR is to resolve the problem for the longer term.

Resolution = Long Term. When all the problems are ‘solved’ – you have ‘Resolve’.

Communicate the resolution, and that

you are moving on to the Prevent phase

of problem solving.

Communicating the resolution is also

an important part of ‘hard-wiring’ it into

the business.



Prevent is the most talked about, and most likely to be skipped phase of problem solving.

PREVENT

Communicate your Prevent plan!Ask for formal approval from my peer

leadership team for the Prevent plan.


Drilling in a bit

Analysis and Communication occur at each phase, with different

emphasis and tailored in each phase for each target audience.

Analyze (confirm)

Communicate

(targeted alert per policy)

Analyze (understand)

Communicate (update,

form, crowdsource)

Analyze (plan, execute)

Communicate (inform,

feedback)

Analyze (execute)

Communicate (inform)

Analyze (set goals

& success agreements)

Communicate (inform, hard wire)

DEFINE

DETECT CONTAIN

RESOLVE

PREVENT


Phase boundaries

To help the PS Team stay in the right phase, insure there is agreement on within which phase we are working.

RESOLVE PREVENT

DETECT

CONTAIN

DEFINE

On a good day, the first three

phases will happen quickly and

some activities overlap. There is

less overlap as we move to prevent.



Types of Leaders Questions

Keeping it simple, leaders questions fall into two categories:

Focused and Continuous Improvement (CI)

CI questions (use only at teachable moments within a phase, or perhaps during an “after

action review”)

• Mine for opportunities for improvement (OFIs). With time and practice, you’ll

find the Detect & Prevent phase are ripe with opportunities for improvement

(OFI).

• Ingrain / support a community of continuous learning and improvement. (CI)

• Insure concerns are aired in a positive, look-to-the-future way.

• Establish the pattern of your Leadership, creating good practices.

Focused questions

• Help keep the team focused on task/phase.

• Help the group come to consensus.

• Insure shared understandings (are we all on the same page?)

• Establish the pattern of your Leadership, creating good practices.


Questions leaders ask

PREVENT

CONTAIN

RESOLVE

DETECT

DEFINE

To help the PS Team stay in the right phase, insure you get the right answers.

Strong focus questions during

the Detect phase

Strong CI questions during

or after the Detect phase

• How/when did we learn of this?

• Who should be notified?

• Who should be engaged?

• What is the current level of criticality (consider

incident communications policy)?

• How can I help?

• Do you have what you need?

• Are we ready to close detect and move

to define? Really? Are other “aftershocks”

pending?

• Could we have known earlier?

• Had notifications (not communications,

but notifications) already been executed?

• Did all needed resources respond?

• Do we have any OFIs? (like automated

alarming?)

• Did we anticipate well?

• Did our vendors deliver?



PREVENT

CONTAIN

RESOLVE

DETECT

DEFINE



the Define phase


or after the Define phase

• What is impacted?

• What is NOT impacted?

• What was the last change?

• What is the current level of criticality

(consider comm policy)?

• How can I help?


• Are we ready to close Define and move

to Contain? Really? Are other “aftershocks”

pending?

• RDo we have a comm plan?

• Did all needed resources respond?

• Do we have any OFIs? (like call tree

or automated discovery?)

• Did we anticipate well?

• Did we close the prior phase and move

to the next effectively? (to reinforce behavior)



PREVENT

CONTAIN

RESOLVE

DETECT

DEFINE



the Contain phase


or after the Contain phase

• What are workarounds?

• Who should be notified of workarounds

(impacted)?

• Do we need any approvals/consults?

• How can I help?


• Are we ready to close detect and move

to define? Really? Are other “aftershocks”

pending?

• Are vendors performing?

• Did/will our communication plan hit

all impacted?

• Do we have any OFIs? (like automated

failover?)


to the next effectively (to reinforce behavior)

• Did we anticipate well? (allows some positive

reinforcement).



PREVENT

CONTAIN

RESOLVE

DETECT

DEFINE



the Resolve phase


or after the Resolve phase

• Is this really a Resolution or actually

a Contain phase workaround?

• Who should be notified?


• Are we ready to close Resolve and move

to Prevent?

• Who should we include in Prevent

conversations?

• Could we have executed quicker

on Resolution?

• Do we have any OFIs? (like documented

process or better Communications?)


to the next effectively? (to reinforce behavior)

• How should we communicate Resolution?



PREVENT

CONTAIN

RESOLVE

DETECT

DEFINE



the Prevent phase


or after the Prevent phase

• Have we got the right people in the room?

• Does our Resolve plan support Prevention?

• How can I help?

• Do you have what you need to Prevent?

• What about our vendor role in our

Prevention plan?

• Are we ready to close Prevent and

communicate the plan?

• Rate our use of the SPSR (survey?)

• What have we learned?

• Do we have any other unrelated OFIs?

• Which individuals or teams should be

recognized for above-and-beyond:

– Professionalism?

– Creativity?

– ? values you want to hard-wire



In summary

You will find that people

who love excellence will

support and appreciate

your use of a structured

process for problem

resolution.

This is easy stuff, you

already know most of it.

Simply commit it to

memory and practice it.

By modeling the behavior,

you are teaching it.


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The structured problem solving roadmap - Becker's Hospital ... 22, Friday/F… · The structured problem solving roadmap A structured approach that the non-technical leader can use