We live in a complex world. People and organizations often don’t believe they have the time to perform the in-depth analyses required to solve problems. Instead, they take remedial actions to make the problem less visible and implement a patchwork of ad hoc solutions they hope will prevent recurrence. Then when the problem returns, they get frustrated—and the cycle repeats.

This book provides detailed steps for how to solve problems, focusing more heavily on the analytical process involved in finding the actual causes of problems. It does so using a large number of figures, diagrams, and tools useful for helping make our thinking visible. The primary focus is on solving repetitive problems, rather than performing investigations for major incidents/accidents. Most of the terminology used is everyday language and can therefore also be used for applications in their personal lives. Many of the examples will involve situations with which the reader will likely be familiar.

The focus of the book not on statistics but instead on the logic of finding causes. It has sometimes been described in training workshops as “Six Sigma lite”…problem solving without all the heavy statistics.