How can I find the real reasons behind process problems?
When a process isn’t performing as expected, it’s easy to fix the immediate symptom. However, for lasting improvement, you need to dig deeper and uncover the root cause(s) – the fundamental reason(s) why the problem is occurring. Addressing symptoms provides temporary relief, but tackling root causes prevents the problem from recurring.
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a collection of techniques to help you do just that. Here are two simple yet powerful methods well-suited for office and service environments.
How does the 5 Whys technique help me understand problems?
The 5 Whys technique is a straightforward and surprisingly effective way to explore the cause-and-effect relationships underlying a particular problem. The basic idea involves stating the problem and then repeatedly asking “Why?” (typically about five times) until you arrive at a fundamental cause.
How to use the 5 Whys:
Define the Problem Clearly: Start with a specific problem statement. For example, “The monthly sales report was submitted two days late.”
Ask “Why?”: Ask why the problem occurred.
Problem: The monthly sales report was submitted two days late.
Why? Because the data from the CRM system was not available on time.
Ask “Why?” Again: Take the answer from step 2 and ask why that happened.
Why was the CRM data not available on time? Because the CRM system had unscheduled downtime on the data extraction day.
Continue Asking “Why?”: Repeat the process for each answer.
Why did the CRM have unscheduled downtime? Because an emergency patch was applied without proper testing.
Why was the patch applied without proper testing? Because the IT team felt pressured to fix an urgent bug quickly.
Why did the IT team feel pressured? Because there isn’t a clear protocol for balancing urgent fixes with testing requirements for critical systems.
Identify the Root Cause(s): By the fifth “Why” (or sometimes earlier or later), you often uncover a deeper systemic issue. In this example, the lack of a clear IT protocol represents a significant root cause, rather than just blaming CRM downtime.
Tallyfy Tip for 5 Whys:
When a problem is flagged in a Tallyfy task comment, you can use the comment thread itself to conduct a collaborative 5 Whys session with your team. Each “Why” and its answer can be a reply in the thread, keeping the analysis in context.
How does the Fishbone Diagram help identify problem causes?
The Fishbone Diagram is a visual tool that helps teams brainstorm and categorize the potential causes of a problem. It’s called a Fishbone because its structure resembles a fish skeleton.
How to create a simple Fishbone Diagram for office processes:
Define the Problem (The “Head”): Write the problem statement at the “head” of the fish, on the right-hand side of your drawing space.
Draw the “Spine”: Draw a horizontal line extending to the left from the problem statement.
Identify Major Cause Categories (The “Bones”): Brainstorm broad categories of potential causes. For office processes, common categories might include:
People: Issues related to skills, training, communication, motivation.
Process: Problems with the workflow itself, unclear steps, handoffs, policies.
Technology: Issues with software, hardware, systems, data.
Environment/Policy: External factors, company policies, workspace issues.
Draw diagonal lines (the main “bones”) branching off the spine, labeling each with a category.
Brainstorm Potential Causes: For each major category, brainstorm specific potential causes related to the problem and list them as smaller “bones” branching off the main category bones.
Example Problem: Low customer satisfaction with support ticket resolution.
People: Insufficient training, high agent turnover.
Process: Too many handoffs, unclear escalation procedures.
Technology: Slow CRM system, knowledge base hard to search.
Analyze and Investigate: Once the diagram is populated, the team can discuss the potential causes, identify the most likely ones, and plan further investigation (perhaps using 5 Whys on the most probable causes or gathering data via Tallyfy Analytics).
Visualizing the Fishbone Diagram
This diagram shows how to structure root cause analysis using the Fishbone method to identify why support tickets aren’t resolving satisfactorily.
What to notice:
The problem statement (fish head) sits at the right, making it the focal point of analysis
Main categories branch off like bones, organizing causes into logical groups for systematic investigation
Specific causes connect to their categories, showing how individual issues contribute to the overall problem
Tallyfy Tip for Fishbone Diagrams:
While Tallyfy doesn’t have a built-in Fishbone tool, you can create one collaboratively on a whiteboard (physical or virtual) and then attach a photo or summary of the diagram to a relevant Tallyfy task or process template description. The insights gained can inform improvements to your Tallyfy process.
Advanced techniques for complex problems
While 5 Whys and Fishbone work well for straightforward issues, complex problems may require more sophisticated approaches:
Pareto Analysis: Focus on the vital few
The Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) suggests that 80% of problems come from 20% of causes. This powerful insight helps prioritize improvement efforts.
How to conduct Pareto Analysis:
Collect data: Track problem frequency over time (defect types, customer complaints, error categories)
Sort by frequency: Arrange causes from most to least frequent
Calculate cumulative percentage: Add percentages as you go down the list
Identify the vital few: Find where cumulative percentage reaches 80%
Example: A call center analyzed customer complaints:
Wrong information provided: 45% of complaints
Long hold times: 25%
System errors: 15%
Attitude issues: 10%
Other: 5%
The first two categories (70% combined) likely share root causes. Focusing here yields maximum impact.
Tallyfy Application: Use form fields to categorize issues as they occur. Analytics automatically generates frequency data for Pareto analysis.
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA): Prevent before problems occur
FMEA proactively identifies what could go wrong before it does. Originally from aerospace, it’s invaluable for critical business processes.
Simple FMEA approach:
List process steps: What could fail at each step?
Rate three factors (1-10 scale):
Severity: How bad if it fails?
Occurrence: How often might it fail?
Detection: How likely to catch before impact?
Calculate Risk Priority Number (RPN): Severity × Occurrence × Detection
Address highest RPNs first
Example: New employee onboarding
Step: “Send IT equipment”
Failure: Equipment arrives late
Severity: 8 (employee can’t work)
Occurrence: 3 (happens occasionally)
Detection: 2 (hard to know until too late)
RPN: 48
Action: Add tracking notifications and buffer time
Tallyfy Integration: Build prevention into templates based on FMEA findings. Add checkpoints where high-risk failures might occur.
Statistical thinking for service processes
Numbers tell stories when you know how to listen. These techniques reveal patterns invisible to casual observation:
Run Charts: Plot process performance over time. Look for:
Trends (6+ points moving same direction)
Shifts (8+ points on one side of average)
Patterns (repeating cycles)
A loan processor noticed approval times spiked every Monday. Root cause? Weekend applications queued up, overwhelming Monday morning staff. Solution: Stagger Monday start times.
Scatter Diagrams: Explore relationships between variables. Plot one factor against another to spot correlations.
Example: Plot “training hours” against “error rates” for new employees. Strong negative correlation revealed 20+ hours training dramatically reduced errors - justifying investment in comprehensive onboarding.
Choosing the right tool
Match technique to problem complexity:
Use 5 Whys when:
Problem is relatively simple
Need quick analysis
Single root cause likely
Use Fishbone when:
Multiple causes possible
Need team brainstorming
Categories help organize thinking
Use Pareto when:
Many problem types exist
Resources are limited
Need to prioritize efforts
Use FMEA when:
Implementing new processes
Consequences of failure are severe
Prevention beats correction
Use statistical tools when:
Data is available
Patterns aren’t obvious
Need to prove relationships
Making root cause analysis stick
Knowledge without action is just trivia. Ensure your analysis drives real improvement:
Document findings: Attach RCA results to relevant Tallyfy processes
Link to solutions: Every root cause should connect to specific process changes
Verify effectiveness: Did addressing the root cause solve the problem?
Share learnings: Similar processes might have similar vulnerabilities
By using these simple and advanced RCA techniques, you can move beyond quick fixes and address the underlying issues that impact your process performance. This leads to more effective and sustainable improvements managed through Tallyfy.
The DMAIC framework provides a five-phase systematic methodology (Define Measure Analyze Improve Control) that transforms process improvement from symptom-treating guesswork into data-driven sustainable change by ensuring teams address root causes rather than surface issues while maintaining long-term performance gains.
Process improvement focuses on systematically enhancing business workflows to boost efficiency customer satisfaction and competitive advantage through methodologies like DMAIC Lean and Kaizen while leveraging tools like Tallyfy for documentation automation and continuous optimization.
Data and analytics replace guesswork in process improvement by providing objective evidence to identify real problems establish performance baselines pinpoint bottlenecks and measure the impact of changes while tools like Tallyfy Analytics automatically capture workflow data including task completion times process duration and bottlenecks to enable proactive optimization through visualization and regular review.
Process improvement is a systematic approach to analyzing and enhancing current workflows to increase efficiency reduce errors improve customer satisfaction lower costs boost employee morale and strengthen competitive advantage through tools like Tallyfy that make processes visible trackable and easily modifiable.
