The Complete Problem Solving Toolbox Course

Explore the five Y technique for root cause analysis in problem solving, focusing on uncovering root causes with simple logic and implementing countermeasures to avoid symptoms.

Explore the five Y technique to uncover root causes, tracing its history to Sakichi Toyoda and Toyota Industries, and applying real-world examples.

Learn to perform five whys analysis for root cause identification by defining the problem, iterating why until root causes emerge, implementing a one-and-done solution, and monitoring impact.

Apply the five why technique to a real case of wrong limb amputation, identifying that washable markers caused unclear markings; remove washable markers from hospital purchasing to prevent recurrence.

Explore Pareto charts to visualize data, identify high-impact causes, and apply the Pareto principle to focus 20% of effort on 80% of outcomes.

Explore the history and use of Pareto charts and the 80/20 principle, showing how 20% of inputs drive 80% of outcomes and guiding problem solvers to focus on vital few.

Read a Pareto chart by examining category frequency and the cumulative percentage. Identify the vital few that account for 80% of the errors.

Explore how Pareto charts reveal the vital few issues driving most defects or downtime across manufacturing and service settings, and compare outputs from Minitab, Excel, and other tools.

Construct a Pareto chart in Excel from downtime data by counting categories, sorting by frequency, and adding a cumulative percentage on a secondary axis to highlight priority issues.

Explore nested pareto analysis on hierarchical failure data to drill down from mechanical failure to specific failure reasons such as material jam and conveyor issues.

Explore scatter plots and stratification diagrams to visualize data and drive insights. Learn fundamentals, create charts, and interpret what the visuals reveal through hands-on examples.

Discover how stratification diagrams extend scatter plots to reveal insights by grouping data, for example by male and female, showing trajectories, histories, seasonality, and patterns to improve problem solving.

Learn the fundamentals of scatter plots and stratification diagrams, clarify correlation versus relationship strength, interpret slope and the line of best fit, and note spurious correlations and causation caveats.

Explore stratification diagrams across iris, diamonds, Mtcars, and production data to reveal category differences and hidden relationships among species, cuts, cylinders, carat, price, and machine types.

Create stratification diagrams in Excel using a reusable template, organizing dinosaur data by category, mapping length and weight, and customizing data series and chart aesthetics.

Explore histograms as a key data visualization tool to reveal shapes, patterns, and outliers. Learn basic statistics like averages, maxes, and mins to guide insightful problem solving.

Explore how histograms visualize data shape using bins and counts to read frequency and range. Learn to compute mean, median, mode, min, max, and assess skew and symmetry in distributions.

Explore histograms to understand left skew (negative), right skew (positive), mean–median–mode relationships, outliers' effects, and the idea of uniform and bimodal distributions.

Explore histograms and bimodal distributions by analyzing two artist groups by song count, highlighting vocabularies, outliers, and top artists like Eminem, Jay-Z, Tupac, and Bob Dylan.

Learn how to construct and interpret a histogram in Excel using the diamonds carat data, set bin width, run descriptive statistics, and interpret skewness, mean, median, and mode.

Explore histograms through case studies, calculating median, mean, and mode, identifying skew and outliers, and interpreting data patterns in movie budgets and ratings.

Explore fault tree diagrams and analysis to proactively identify risks, dissect failure modes, and assess how subcomponent relationships drive failures for proactive risk mitigation.

Explore the history and development of fault tree diagrams, analyze systems for failure modes, and learn to construct and read fault tree diagrams top down and bottom up.

Explore fault tree diagrams with practical examples and symbols, read diagrams, distinguish reactive and proactive approaches, and identify root causes using and/or logic to mitigate risks.

Construct fault tree diagrams by identifying the problem, brainstorming causes, and using or and and operators to map failure modes, compute probabilities, and plan corrective and risk mitigation actions.

Explore fault tree diagrams and analysis to diagnose low employee morale, using or operators across workload, salary and benefits, manager relations, and training, and apply Pareto reasoning to prioritize solutions.

Discover the fishbone diagram as last tool, a brainstorming method that augments process mapping, five why, and fault tree analysis, with a case at the end and materials to download.

Explore the history and use of fishbone diagrams, or Ishikawa diagrams, and learn to read from right to left and outside-in as you construct causes.

Explore fishbone diagram examples, critique their specificity across the six M domains—material, measurement, machine, method, environment, and people—and highlight high-impact, low-resource causes to address specific problems.

Explore fishbone diagrams using the 6M and 6P templates to identify root causes across measurement, materials, Mother Nature, manpower, and machines for comprehensive problem solving.

Construct a focused fishbone diagram by defining a specific problem, selecting broad categories, generating seven causes per category, iterating to root causes, evaluating feasibility, and prioritizing high-leverage actions.

See how the fishbone diagram teams with a high level process map, pareto chart, data collection plan, and five Y analysis to boost root cause insight.

Learn to use the fishbone diagram to analyze Gen 1 wearables sales failures, mapping causes across product design, competition, operations, sales, and advertising, and craft corrective actions.

Generate solutions and countermeasures using industry best practices to turn identified problems into effective, implementable improvements.

Explore the anatomy of a good solution by applying the countermeasure spectrum to design safeguards. Learn paradigms and frameworks for effective implementation, with examples of warnings, downstream inspection, and airproofing.

Discover how visual management uses signals to speed decision making, improve the status quo, and align daily work with standards through real-world examples like traffic signals, highlights, and classroom signals.

Apply standards and standard work with visual management to prevent errors, sustain improvements, and train staff for consistent results; audit adherence and revise standards as needed.

Pilot a PDCA cycle to test ideas, learn quickly, and minimize disruption, using an itemized implementation plan to track actions and confirm impact.