Practical problem solving tips

© 2016 Marval Software Limited www.marval.co.uk E:info@marval.co.uk
Practical Problem
Solving Tips

Introduction
This slide set is designed to help us become
more effective in problem analysis and problem
solving
It will:
Look at some common approaches
Present some interesting challenges to overcome
Provide pragmatic, useable tips and techniques to
help us refresh and improve our problem analysis and
problem solving skills

Question
What is a
Problem?

Answer
A discrepancy between
what is and what should be

Types of problem solving
Fire fighting
Fishbone diagrams
Mind mapping
Analytical
Creative
Brainstorming
Teamwork

Some benefits
 The more often we follow a
consistent approach

The 4 Ps of problem solving
Patience
Practice
Persistence
Perseverance
Plus a good dose of
Common Sense

Current situation?
Problems often take too long to identify and
solve?
We jump straight in with a solution without
assessing the problem properly?
Too much time spent fire-fighting?
Inconsistent approach?
No formal and documented approach/process?
Go for the complex solution and ignore the
obvious one?

If only we KNEW what we KNOW
88% of organisational knowledge is currently not
searchable or retrievable
Up to 20% of our time is spent finding answers
to problems that have already been solved
As much as 12% of our time is spent looking for
sources of information
- Delphi Group

The SIX key questions
 What?
 Where?
 When?
 How?
 Why?
 Who?
“I keep six honest serving men.
They taught me all I know:
Their names are What and Why
and When and How and Where
and Who.”
Rudyard Kipling
(The ‘Just So’ stories)

Known barriers to effective decision-making
 Indecision
 Stalling
 Overreacting
 Vacillating
 Half measures
 Making assumptions

Problem solving on the ‘phone
Simple guidelines
Requires a well-structured approach
Talk to customers in business language
Don’t expect them to be an ‘expert’ in IT
Remember they are an expert in their field
Ensure you understand their issue
Ask questions to confirm your understanding
Re-state the ‘problem’ for clarification
Document what they are saying

Problem solving on the ‘phone
Simple guidelines
NEVER make assumptions
Be empathic
Think before you speak - customer perception
Advise the customer YOU cannot immediately
solve their problem - if this is true
Ensure the customer feels confident that the
team will look after their interests and keep them
informed
Be professional at all times (not matter what the
provocation!)

Influences on group decisions
Peer pressure:
Members are reluctant to go against the majority viewpoint
Critical reasoning stifled, leading to wrong decisions being
made - group think
Successful groups are over confident and so take riskier
decisions
Majority view:
Groups make more extreme decisions than each
individual's decisions
Group polarisation
Pulling your weight:
Individuals put in less effort into achieving decisions than
other members - social loafing

Find the best solution for the situation
 Don't view any alternative as the ‘perfect solution’.
If there were such a thing, there probably wouldn't be a
problem in the first place.
 Suspend judgment and criticism when first collecting
ideas
 Involve a trusted colleague
 Is there something you missed?
 Do they see a problem with your approach /solution?
 Compromise
 Consider compromise when you have a full grasp of the problem
and your alternatives
 Competing solutions may yield a hybrid solution.

Knowing when to escalate is essential
Many IT specialists mistakenly believe that
escalating a problem is an admission of
incompetence, so they violate established
escalation guidelines.

Business impact assignment
You need an agreed business impact, urgency
and priority assignment approach that ensures
business critical issues are handled first
Ensure you have a clear incident process and
procedure in place. This will ensure a structured
approach is followed when you are under
pressure

Keep customers informed
It’s imperative that the correct people are kept
informed
 Customers experience major frustration when they
have to wait for a status update
 Managing customer expectation is the key to success
 Customers appreciate knowing what’s been done, the
current status of their problem and when to expect a
resolution
 Don’t forget about your own management team – they
won’t like to be embarrassed

Proactive problem analysis & trending
“We never seem to make
the time to be proactive,
but always have the time
to be reactive”
Dr Don Page
“The Too Busy Syndrome”

Proactive problem analysis & trending
 Identify and resolve problems before new Incidents
occur
 Identify potential problems quicker
 Verify implemented improvements have been
successful:
•Incidents are being solved faster
•The same incidents and problems are not
re-occurring

Questions to drive analysis
 Why is it necessary?
 When should it be done (e.g. now, after hours, weekly)?
 Where is the information for analysis located?
 Who should do it?
 What should be done?
 How should it be done?
 How should it be documented?
 Who should we inform and when?
 How should we inform others?

Analysis should identify/highlight
 Request types having the biggest business impact
 Request types occurring the most often (and who
experiences them most)
 Where requests are occurring
 When requests are occurring
 Who/what is experiencing the most requests
 Request types taking up staff time the most
 Request types taking the longest time to turn around
 If service improvements have been successful
 Customer training needs

Trending focuses
 Service affected
 Reported symptom
 Affect configuration item(s) (Optional)
 Identified root cause
 Resolution applied
 Service agreement used (Optional)
 Actual individual time spent
 Elapsed time spent
 Location
 Business impact
 Cost/revenue impact (Optional)
 Customer satisfaction
Ensure all incidents
are classified with
A ROOT CAUSE and
RESOLUTION code

Proactive perception analysis
Proactive perception analysis should primarily
focus on:
Requests not meeting agreed targets
Re-scheduled requests
Poor customer satisfaction
Incidents being ‘bounced’ around
Re-opened requests

Things we can do to save time in problem solving
Record/document everything
we do
Share knowledge and
communicate better
Provide diagnostic scripts,
checklists and staff skills
matrix
Have accurate configuration
management database
(CMDB)
Improved testing and release
process
Enter detailed classification
into incident records
Provide up-to-date processes
and procedures
Perform regular analysis and
link to KPIs
Spend more time planning
and evaluating risks
Develop knowledge base with
access to known errors,
solutions and workarounds

Top tip: ask "Why?" five times
 Ask "Why" a problem is occurring - and then ask "Why" four more
times. For example...
1. Why has the machine stopped?
A fuse blew because of an overload
2. Why was there an overload?
There wasn't enough lubrication for the bearings
3. Why wasn't there enough lubrication?
The pump wasn't pumping enough
4. Why wasn't lubricant being pumped?
The pump shaft was vibrating as a result of abrasion
5. Why was there abrasion?
There was no filter, allowing chips of material into the pump
Installation of a filter solves this problem
From "What a Great Idea" by Chic Thompson

The top 10 common mistakes we make
 Making quick assumptions (an assumption is
something that is accepted as true without verification)
 Not collecting/having/being given the facts
 Being supplied with inaccurate/incomplete information
 Not properly evaluating/reproducing the condition
 Pressure from customer/business to deliver NOW
 Agreeing a time frame without understanding the
problem, impact, risks and resources required
 Trying to fix things beyond our skillset
 Not escalating a request early enough
 Not involving the right people
 Not keeping the customer/business informed
200 IT staff surveyed

Summary
With a well-defined problem analysis and problem
solving process in place, you will realise major
business benefits:
 Repetitive problems solved permanently
 Reduction in the number of incidents and
problems
 Minimised business impact
 Shared knowledge
 Reduced resolution time
 Improved productivity
 Confidence in IT improved/maintained

About Marval
Marval offers a
customer-centric
approach to IT service
management (ITSM),
encompassing ITSM
software, consultancy
and education
People
TechnologyProcess

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Practical problem solving tips

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