Fix-It-Once®
Doctors
follow protocols when they treat patients. Engineers span mighty rivers
using plans for bridges. Chefs apply time-tested recipes to whisk culinary
magic into fresh ingredients. Professionals must be methodical to get it right the first time.
Unfortunately, when most people solve sudden, serious problems, they shoot from the hip. We can do better. We can Fix-It-Once®.
Fix-It-Once® is a streamlined root cause determination process that shrinks the
likelihood of the same disastrous consequences happening again by 95%. Its real
power, however, is strengthening 80 - 90% of the other processes, people, and
hardware that will remain vulnerable to similar outcomes unless you act.
Fix-It-Once®
Organizes your problem assessment
Prioritizes the most effective actions
May not require "solving" the original problem at all!
Seven Steps: Fix-It-Once®
Click HERE to view a Fix-It-Once®
chart
Unacceptable Consequences
Acknowledge every one, no matter how devastating or
embarrassing. Write them down! This is no time for the spin doctor. Without total honesty, Fix-It-Once® cannot work.
Problem Release
Determine precisely how the problem happened. Understand the human, equipment, or support network failure
mechanism that opened up the flood of consequences. Dig hard. Be
systematic. However, do not stop here.
Early Warning System
Probe for factors that set the stage for trouble that was well beyond
what you expected. Were you monitoring
the wrong channel? Any channel?
Industry
Awareness Did ignorance or wishful thinking create
false security about the disaster potential?
Experts and
Experience Did you neglect essential lessons from your
own earlier small or less harmful problems?
Aggravating
Factors What made the consequences so awful?
Timing? During full-scale
production and not prototype? Best
client? Company-wide instead of
isolated example?
Contingency Response What was half-hearted, late, or misguided about the organization’s reaction when adverse consequences began to appear? How effective was your advance planning for trouble?