We all love to solution and check off that win for the team, but moving too quickly may result in introducing new problems or even amplifying previously smaller issues. The latter is common particularly in technology implementation where the hope is for efficiency improvement, but the results sometimes don’t meet the desired outcome. Although root cause analysis was informally practiced at the SMCDSB, the implementation of a formal program using a process approach to problem solve, define requirements, and solution has strengthened troubleshooting and preventing future problems. By taking a very focused stance on identifying the problem or need clearly and leveraging the Kepner-Tregoe Analytical Troubleshooting method, there is improved clarity, definition, and logic in how the analysis completed. I wish to share the journey of RCA program implementation for the SMCDSB with examples and successes we've achieved.
Nigel D'Souza—P.Eng.—has a career spanning private and public sector operations and corporate leadership. Nigel led program development and operation of the asset and maintenance management program for Ontario's provincial crown water utility (the largest water and wastewater operator in Canada). Currently, Nigel is the manager of facilities services for the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board. With more than a decade of leading asset and maintenance management practices, Nigel continues to raise awareness and recognition of this field and continues to serve on the PEMAC Board of Directors.
