Solid Footing
Solid Footing
- Publication:
- Quality Progress
- Date:
- May 2017
- Issue:
- Volume 50 Issue 5
- Pages:
- pp. 24-28
- Author(s):
- Barsalou, Matthew
- Organization(s):
- Turbo Systems Engineering GmbH, Kirchheimbolanden, Germany
Abstract
In any root cause analysis (RCA), a good working hypothesis is critical to giving investigators a place to start. There are five virtues to a good hypothesis: conservatism, modesty, simplicity, generality, and refutability. Hypotheses should above all be refutable, but also should not make many assumptions, conflict with too many established beliefs, should not go too far beyond the data, and should be as general as possible. Even if a hypothesis turns out to be wrong during an RCA investigation, a new one may emerge and investigators will have a better foothold on finding the root cause of a failure.