Find the True Problem to Get the Most Significant Results

There’s a saying that mocks both America & Japanese styles of problem solving.

The Americans say Ready, fire, aim.
The Japanese say Ready, aim, aim, aim, fire.

Liker & Meier, The Toyota Way Fieldbook

I’m thoroughly sick of having short termist accusations thrown at my team, with demands for instant fixes. They take time to analyse, and are nearly always baseless (or at worst: minor).

And worse than that, they get in the way of real improvement, which takes time to get right, not least because it takes time just identifying and thoroughly understanding what it is that needs fixing.

As inventor Charles Kettering said: A problem well stated is a problem half solved

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Martin Burns

Transformation Consultant at CA Inc (formerly Rally)

Previously: Leader of software delivery portfolios in large scale orgs.
Specialism: Transforming complex delivery organisations to be more Lean/Agile.
Mindset: Continuous Improvement Obsessive

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Latest posts by Martin Burns (see all)

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Find the True Problem to Get the Most Significant Results by Martin Burns is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.