46
Evaluate Possible Problem Causes

Once you have received the group’s e-mails containing their ideas about what the problem’s causes are, cut and paste the possible causes into a new e-mail that you send to the problem-solving team. Everyone on the team will see all the input. This is the online equivalent of brainstorming on a flip chart in a face-to-face meeting.

Ask each team member to review the possible causes listed, evaluate them, and come up with the one or two causes that they feel are at the heart of the problem. For example:

Subject: Donut Problem Causes
From: Howard Uno
Date: Oct 12
To: Donut Team

Dear Team:

Thank you for all your great input. Here are the main causes the group came up with: (1) Someone is eating more than his or her fair share. (2) The donuts are smaller than they used to be—50 donuts now is equal to about 35 donuts a year ago. (3) Someone is secretly bagging them up and feeding them to the ducks at lunchtime. (4) People are taking the donuts home to their family and friends. (5) We are ordering less donuts than we used to. (6) More people are offering vendors and clients donuts. Please consider these possible causes and let me know within the next two days which one or two, in your opinion, is the real cause of the problem. Some questions to think about include: What percentage of the problem will be solved if this cause is fixed? Is there a cause, creating this cause we are overlooking? Is this cause intermittent or constant?

Thanks,

Howie