Beyond the Five Whys: Root Cause Analysis and Systems Thinking - Hardcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

JAMES C. PATERSON is Director of Risk & Assurance Insights. He spent more than twenty years in a corporate career and was the Chief Audit Executive for the AstraZeneca group. Since then he has been consulting for more than a decade on a range of topics, increasingly focusing on Root Cause Analysis.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Praise for Beyond the Five Whys

“James uses a combination of real-life stories and best practice insights to present a practical approach to root cause analysis that will help shift your mindset to unleash the power of being more curious.”
―Damian Finio, CFO Phibro Animal Healthcare Corporation

“As the world becomes ever more complex and fast paced it is imperative that we become outstanding at learning from experience. Somehow, we must get beyond blame and shame when examining why things go wrong. Otherwise, we will just repeat, and probably make bigger mistakes.”
―Andrew Pal CEng, FIMechE (Leadership Coach and Organisation Consultant)

“James Paterson, a former Chief Audit Executive, tackles a topic of immense importance across all organizational sectors. The book also includes practical guidance from leaders in business, risk and audit.”
―Nancy Haig, CIA, CBA, CFE, CRISC, Principal - PIAC LLC

“Through clear explanations and real-world examples, readers will learn how to systematically identify root causes and develop effective solutions that address the underlying problems. This book is a valuable resource that professionals can read and start to apply to improve their problem-solving skills and make a positive impact within their organizations. Highly recommend!”
―Sandeep Das - Head of Internal Audit, St John Ambulance

Aus dem Klappentext

Why do some problems seem so difficult to fix, and why do others seem to come out of nowhere, without warning? Why do we spend so much time putting out fires instead of strategically planning to prevent issues from arising in the first place? Why can allocating blame get in the way of finding the underlying reasons things haven’t gone to plan? Why was the Titanic tragedy so bad and what lessons can we learn from it to this day?

For readers who are already familiar with root cause analysis (RCA), as well as for those who are new to this powerful way of thinking, Beyond the Five Whys: Root Cause Analysis and Systems Thinking offers advice on how to get to the heart of what causes incidents and setbacks to occur, and how to maximise the chances of things going right in the first place.

This book’s title refers to one of the most popular RCA techniques: the 5 whys method. Whilst it can provide some useful insights, it often leads us to miss the bigger picture. That’s why author James C. Paterson introduces the systems thinking approach to understanding root causes.

With systems thinking, we can step back to see the subtle factors that may be contributing to a problem and gain clarity as to why you can do 99% of the right things and still end up with a catastrophic set back. The book also explains why some??‘obvious’ solutions to problems don’t work and may even make things worse.

Beyond the Five Whys contains a range of contributions from managers who have experienced setbacks and who have been prepared, often for the first time, to provide an ‘inside story’ of what can go wrong and why.

The book also distils a lot of practical advice from public inquiries, medicine, aviation, quality management and other sources, so readers have, in one volume, the essentials regarding these often poorly understood topics.

This is a book to read if you are looking for a fresh perspective on why things don’t go to plan and why sometimes we see similar things going wrong repeatedly; and suggests how to plan for success with more confidence. It contains additional material for those working in organisations who want to upgrade their current approach to Root Cause??Analysis.