Do a root-cause analysis

Before you can understand why your problem is happening, you’ve got to know what’s going on in the first place. After you’ve opened your virtual meeting, pull up the What’s-our-problem worksheet (below) on your screen. Discuss each question together, then add your answers to the doc. When everyone agrees on what the problem is, move on to step 2.

Now that you know what problem you’re having, you can dig into why it exists. Pull up the 5 why’s worksheet (below) on your screen. Add the problem you’re having, then follow the questions in the worksheet to identify the root cause. When you’re done, discuss: What did you notice? Did anything surprise, challenge, or confuse you? 

Once you’ve identified your root cause, discuss how you can mitigate your problem or keep it from happening again. If you can assign concrete follow-ups and due dates in your meeting, go for it. For example, if your site crashed, some next steps might be: 

• Draft a sample QA process — Monique, by 5/21
• Investigate code exception tools — Justin, by 5/21
• Write an apology to users and approve with comms — Jim, by 5/15
• Revisit roadmap to make sure deadlines are reasonable — Eunice, by 5/15

After your workshop, send next steps and due dates to your team. (If the problem impacted a larger group, consider sending an update to them, too.) It’s also a good idea to schedule a check-in to see how your fixes are going.

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