Root Cause Analysis
If I have an unwanted situation which consumes resources and tends to happen in a repeated fashion then there is a possibility that it might be beneficial to figure out what is really causing this situation to occur and remove it so the situation does not occur again. This is generally referred to as Root Cause Analysis, finding the real cause of the problem and dealing with it rather than simply continuing to deal with the symptoms. This raises several questions:

• How does one determine which situations are candidates for root cause analysis?
• How does one figure out what the root cause is?
• Does the removal of the cause entail less resource expenditure than it takes to continue to deal with the symptom?

Determining Candidates

In normal chaotic organizational environments it is often quite difficult to find candidates for root cause analysis because the situations which repeat are either distributed over time so one doesn't realize they are actually recurring, or the situation happens to different people so there isn't an awareness of the recurring nature of the situation.
Root Cause Analysis If I have an unwanted situation which consumes resources and tends to happen in a repeated fashion then there is a possibility that it might be beneficial to figure out what is really causing this situation to occur and remove it so the situation does not occur again. This is generally referred to as Root Cause Analysis, finding the real cause of the problem and dealing with it rather than simply continuing to deal with the symptoms. This raises several questions:

• How does one determine which situations are candidates for root cause analysis?
• How does one figure out what the root cause is?
• Does the removal of the cause entail less resource expenditure than it takes to continue to deal with the symptom?

Determining Candidates

In normal chaotic organizational environments it is often quite difficult to find candidates for root cause analysis because the situations which repeat are either distributed over time so one doesn't realize they are actually recurring, or the situation happens to different people so there isn't an awareness of the recurring nature of the situation. When an organization is using a an automated problem resolution support system, such as SolutionBuilder, it is very easy to determine which situations are recurring with what frequency. Every time a solution is used its frequency counter gets updated, so all one has to do is run reports against the system to determine which solutions are being used with what frequency. Those situations which are recurring with the greatest frequency and consume the greatest amount of resource to rectify are the candidates for root cause analysis.

Finding the Root Cause

Most situations which arise within an organizational context have multiple approaches to resolution. These different approaches generally require different levels of resource expenditure to execute. And, due to the immediacy which exists in most organizational situations there is a tendency to opt for the solution which is the most expedient in terms of dealing with the situation. In doing this the tendency is generally to treat the symptom rather than the underlying fundamental problem that is actually responsible for the situation occurring. Yet, in taking the most expeditious approach and dealing with the symptom, rather than the cause, what is generally ensured is that the situation will, in time, return and need to be dealt with again.
To find root causes there is one really only one question that's relevant, "What can we learn from this situation?" Research has repeatedly proven that unwanted situations within organizations are about 95% related to process problems and only 5% related to personnel problems. Yet, most organizations spend far more time looking for culprits than causes and because of this misdirected effort seldom really gain the benefit they could gain from understanding the foundation of the unwanted situation. Consider the following two scenarios. Scenario # 1 The Plant Manager walked into the plant and found oil on the floor. He called the Foreman over and told him to have maintenance clean up the oil. The next day while the Plant Manager was in the same area of the plant he found oil on the floor again and he subsequently raked the Foreman over the coals for not following his directions from the day before. His parting words were to either get the oil cleaned up or he'd find someone that would. Scenario # 2 The Plant Manager walked into the plant and found oil on the floor. He called the Foreman over and asked him why there was oil on the floor. The Foreman indicated that it was due to a leaky gasket in the pipe joint above. The Plant Manager then asked when the gasket had been replaced and the Foreman responded that Maintenance had installed 4 gaskets over the past few weeks and they each one seemed to leak. The Foreman also indicated that Maintenance had been talking to Purchasing about the gaskets because it seemed they were all bad. The Plant Manager then went to talk with Purchasing about the situation with the gaskets. The Purchasing Manager indicated that they had in fact received a bad batch of gaskets from the supplier. The Purchasing Manager also indicated that they had been trying for the past 2 months to try to get the supplier to make good on the last order of 5,000 gaskets that all seemed to be bad. The Plant Manager then asked the Purchasing Manager why they had purchased from this supplier if they were so disreputable and the Purchasing Manager said because they were the lowest bidder when quotes were received from various suppliers. The Plant Manager then asked the Purchasing Manager why they went with the lowest bidder and he indicated that was the direction he had received from the VP of Finance. The Plant Manager then went to talk to the VP of Finance about the situation. When the Plant Manager asked the VP of Finance why Purchasing had been directed to always take the lowest bidder the VP of Finance said, "Because you indicated that we had to be as cost conscious as possible!" and purchasing from the lowest bidder saves us lots of money. The Plant Manger was horrified when he realized that he was the reason there was oil on the plant floor. Bingo! You may find scenario # 2 somewhat funny, and laugh at the situation. It would be better if the situation made you weep because it is often all so true in numerous variations on the same theme. Everyone in the organization doing their best to do the right things, and everything ends up screwed up. The root cause of this whole situation is local optimization with no global thought involved.
Scenario # 2 also provides an good example of how one should proceed to do root cause analysis. Once simply has to continue to ask "Why?" until the pattern completes and the cause of the difficulty in the situation becomes rather obvious.

To Resolve or Not To Resolve

Once the root cause is determined then it has to be determined whether it costs more to remove the root cause or simply continue to treat the symptoms. This is often not an easy determination. Even though it may be relatively easy to estimate the cost to remove the root cause it is generally very difficult to assess the cost of treating the symptom. This difficulty arises because the cost of the symptom is generally wrapped up in some number of customer and employee satisfaction factors in addition to the resource costs associated with just treating the symptom.

When we look at our situation today, a world in Transition between two Ages, and a decreasing quality of life for most of the planets inhabitants, add in the environment - and we should be looking for a Root Cause. We think we know what it is.

The Industrial Age economic model creates money out of thin air and requires the living people and the Earth pay the bill in labor and natures resources. When peoples labor pays the bill a debt crisisis eventually created with poverty the inevitable result; when nature pays the bill the environment is damaged.

Only a few hundred years old, this economic model based on competiton and conflict has left our children a legacy of debt and a withering planetary environment.

“According to UNICEF, 30,000 children under the age of five die each day due to poverty. That is about 210,000 children each week.”

The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants.” ~ Global Development Finance, World Bank,

An analysis of long term economics shows how the distance between the richest and poorest countriesgrewcountries grew during the Industrial Age: 1. 3 to 1 in 1820 2. 11 to 1 in 1913 3. 35 to 1 in 1950 4. 44 to 1 in 1973 5. 72 to 1 in 1992

"What an astounding thing it is to watch a civilization destroy its self because it is unable to re-examine the validity, under totally new circumstances, of an economic ideology." ~ Sir James Goldsmith

Information Age tools can relieve pressure on people and the environment. Achieving this goal will require a common global community where even the poor can access digital wealth using a free peer to peer Information Age economic system where "value" is created from human elements of creativity (music, words, art) rather than natural resources. A equal system where one can shoot an animal video instead of an animal, and provide wealth for their family earned by digital sales to a global audience. Prosperity Program in conjunction with Peace Portal Humanitarian Trust, and the FDU can meet this bold goal.


"If the Internet is going to become the engine of global commerce it's cracked up to be, it needs a currency it can call its own - a currency as nonproprietary and international as the Internet itself." ~ Wired


Our goal is to expand economic opportunity by connecting projects which bring Access, Markets, and Community to those in need. Prosperity Program is designed to expand opportunity for those in, or at risk of, persistent poverty via programs that: increase income security, help people connect to the globalized information age labor market, protect their earnings from theft, and enable them to advance into a more sustainable lifestyle.

Escaping persistent poverty is a daunting challenge, particularly those in third world countries where government assistance is essentially impossible. It is private non-profit groups which provide the majority of services to the most impoverished people.