Let’s work the problem, people. Let’s not make things worse by guessing. - Gene Kranz
When solving important problems - or any problem actually - if we go with our intuition, and as Kranz admonished, it only makes things worse.
Competence and the leadership that accompanies it involves doing things thoughtfully and mindfully, rather than by hope, intuition, or guesswork.
This advice is applicable to project management and the development efforts performed on projects, maintenance, operations, and their process as well.
So how do we work the problem in our project domain?
First is what is the problem. When you read Failure is Not an Option the process of problem-solving is straight forward. Find the cause. This may be hard and may at the time not even be possible in short order, but guessing what the problem doesn't provide any solution.
When we hear a suggestion or even a conjecture as to what the problem is and a proposed solution, ask how do you know? What evidence is there that this is the problem and most importantly, that the suggested fix will actually fix the problem.
One approach we use is the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a structured technique for organizing and analyzing complex decisions, based on mathematics and psychology. James T. Brown's The Handbook of Program Management: How to Facilitate Project Success with Optimal Program Management is a good place to start.
Dr. Brown is a former NASA program manager and his 2nd edition is even better.
So when things are going wrong, people and processes are misbehaving, the smell of dysfunction is in the air - DO NOT listen to any suggested solution until some assessment of the cause and the tangible evidence of the efficacy of the solution is presented for evaluation.
Otherwise, you get to fix the problem twice.
