Tuesday, March 10, 2009

i-TFTD #192

i-TFTD #192

#192-1. We do not place our mistakes on our head, the weight may crush us; instead we place them under our feet and use them as a platform to view our horizon.

-Anon

#192-2. Failure is success if we learn from it.

-Malcolm Forbes, publisher (1919–1990)

#192-3. It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of the truth.

-John Locke, philosopher (1632-1704)

____

Everybody knows that mistakes are inevitable and that a mistake is an opportunity for course-correction but this knowledge should reflect in steadily reducing the time we spend in:

- justifying why we made an error

-trying to pin blame on others or circumstances

-analysis prior to beginning the next action

Techniques to identify the real cause of any problem (or mistake) have been popularized by the various quality methodologies but it often degenerates into giving the process a label (root cause analysis or RCA), having a template document and filling it. The purpose of RCA is to identify and implement action steps to prevent future recurrence of the problem or mistake.

Lest we forget the human angle, there are useful and not-so-useful (ego-driven) ways to point out mistakes; the best approach is to educate the person(s) such that they themselves see their folly.

No comments: