october 7, 2006code camp at foothill collegeslide 1 advanced troubleshooting skill the best bedside...

October 7, 2006 Code Camp at Foothill College Slide 1

Advanced Troubleshooting SkillThe Best Bedside Manner

CodeCamp October 7, 2006Jacky Hood, Instructor, Foothill College

CEO, FieldDay Solutions, Inc.

Business Card or Email address for PowerPoint or write to [email protected]

Or [email protected]


Participant Profiles

• Personal Troubleshooting– Hardware– Software– Non-Computer (e.g. cameras,

appliances

• Colleague Support• Customer/User Support


Participant Goals

• Knowledge– 1: – 2:

• Skill: – 1:– 2:

• Advancement• Stress Reduction• Other


Problem-Solving vs. Troubleshooting

• Problems you encounter– 1: – 2:– 3:

• Typical Troubleshooting– 1: – 2:– 3:


Problem-Solving Methodologies

• 8D

• Inductive, Deductive, Abductive

• Gestalt

• Problem Space

• Hard Systems • Soft Systems


8 DisciplinesProblem-Solvingused extensively in Quality

1. Use Team Approach2. Describe the Problem3. Implement and Verify Short-Term Corrective

Actions4. Define end Verify Root Causes5. Verify Corrective Actions6. Implement Permanent Corrective Actions7. Prevent Recurrence8. Congratulate Your Team


Inductive and Deductive Problem-Solving Methodologies

• Thought Processes– Inductive: Instances to Principles (e.g.

biology classifications)– Deductive

• Principles to Instances• Cause to Result

– Abductive: Result to Cause


Gestalt Problem Solvingexamples from Harish Kotbagi,

Georgia Tech, 1997

Gestalt: Whole is greater than sum of parts


Problem space theory

• Theory by Allen Newell & Herbert Simon– Initial state and end state– Goal: move desk

• Subgoal: make desk lighter

• Creativity– Edward deBono Lateral Thinking– Arthur Koestler The Act of Creation– Film Why Man Creates– Twyla Tharp The Creative Habit


Hard Systems Problem Solving Methodology

• Asserts that all things can be measured

• Analysis using quantitative methods and tools

• From early systems theorists including Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy


Soft Systems Problem Solving Methodology

• Approach to organisational process modelling used both for general problem solving and in the management of change

• Originated by Peter Checkland and Brian Wilson, University of Lancaster

• Now incorporated into CST: Critical Systems Thinking multidiscipline models


Soft Systems Methodology Dale Couprie et al, University of Calgary


Myth of Hard and Soft Approaches to Support

• Myth– Use Hard methodologies to fix the

system– Use Soft methodologies to fix the

customer

• Reality– Combined methodology builds

confidence on both sides


Three Legs

TechnicalProblem

BusinessProblem

EmotionalProblem:Frustration

AngerGuiltFear

Three Legsof a

Support Problem


Troubleshooting Methodologies

• Half-splitting or binary-search

• Last-changed

• Litt

• Knapp


Half-splittingor binary-search

• Ensures minimum number of steps– Exercise: number of steps in various stages

Drawing from GENERAL MAINTENANCE PROCEDURES FOR FIRE CONTROL MATERIEL published by US Army


Last ChangedJacky’s favorite methodology

• The system was working; now it’s not• All changes between the working and

non-working system are suspect, no matter how unlikely they appear

Do not insult the intelligence of the customer by asking questions relatedto a system that has never worked


Litt’s UTPSteve Litt’s Universal Troubleshooting Process

(computers, cars, etc.)1. Prepare2. Get a complete and accurate symptom description3. Make a damage control plan4. Reproduce the symptom5. Do the appropriate corrective maintenance6. Narrow it down to the root cause7. Repair or replace the defective component8. Test9. Take pride in your solution10. Prevent future occurrence of this problem


Knapp’s Methodology

Donna Knapp “How to Solve Problems Methodically” in Customer Service Skills for the Help Desk Professional

1. Gather all available data and create information2. Diagnose the problem

1. Ask questions2. Simulate the customer’s actions3. Use diagnostic tools

3. Develop a course of action


Game Theory applied to Troubleshooting

• Game Theory (von Neumann, Oskar Morgenstern, Nash, Selten, Aumann, Schelling, others)– Applicable to economics, war, sports, business, and

games– Competitors, cooperators– Zero-Sum and non-zero-sum– Perfect information and imperfect information

• Gaming Theory: beat the house– Blackjack Poker

• Card counting now useless– Roulette


Game Theory applied to Troubleshooting

• Game theory is the study of the ways in which strategic interactions among rational players produce outcomes with respect to the preferences of those players, none of which might have been intended by any of them.– Example: “Voters chose a minority government”

• Trust theory: approach the other party as a cooperator until that party proves to be an adversary

• Applicability to Troubleshooting: engineer, customer, and system as Cooperators


Friend or Foe Game Theory & Television ShowThe decisions the contestants make in the 'Trust Box' determine the team's winnings and how they were divided. Three outcomes were possible:

– Both vote "Friend" – Each player receives half the winnings.

– One votes "Friend," the other "Foe" – The contestant voting "Foe" takes all the money and the "Friend" gets nothing.

– Both vote "Foe" – Neither player wins anything.


Cooperation among the three players

Two ways to describe/troubleshoot systems– Correct functioning (anatomy and physiology)– Malfunctioning (symptom-cause-solution)

1. What is the system trying to do? How can we cooperate?

2. What is the customer trying to do? How can the system cooperate?

3. Analyzing the disconnects between items 1 and 2 can lead to resolution


Workshop One: The Cornered Customer

• Work in groups of 2 to 5 people• Customer lost critical information from boss

(password) and is showing anger, guilt, fear, and embarrassment

• Define the goals of the customer, the system, and the troubleshooter

• Devise two solutions: one technical and one non-technical

• Save face for the customer


CSI Basics• Crime scene analysis is a slow, methodical, systematic,

and orderly process that involves protocols and a processing methodology.

• Far too many investigators cave into pressure to get the scene working and functional again, especially if it is an area of commerce.

• Having a method or game plan protects against charges the scene was ransacked or dropsied.

• It's important to remember communication and team work are the hallmarks of good crime scene analysis.

Dr. Tom O'Connor CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION class, North Carolina Wesleyan College


Crime Scene Investigation Techniques for Troubleshooting

Basic CSI homicide techniques• First do no harm – disturb nothing

– The board swap disaster• Obtain coroner’s findings

– ______ of death– ______ of death

• Establish chronology• Eliminate possible causes with valid alibis


Tools of the Trade

• Active Listening– Spkr A: I would like to learn…– Spkr B: Nod, OK, ‘tell me more”– Reverse roles

• Involve the Customer• Solution Plan


Active Listening Workshop

• Speaker A: I would like to learn…– to drive a Bobcat– to speak Italian– how to get promoted– to play the clarinet– AJAX programming language– …any other topic

• Speaker B: Nod, OK, ‘tell me more”• Reverse roles


Solution Plan: Ten Steps

1. Calm the customer-------------------------------2. Engage or isolate the

customer3. Observe without action4. Choose a plan-------------------------------5. Collect data and create

hypothesis6. Test hypothesis7. Take corrective action or

create workaround-------------------------------

8. Identify root cause9. Document

– resolution/workaround

– root cause– prevention strategy

10. Follow up with customer


Calming most Customers in 20 Seconds

• Our methodology will work here.• We have a process for problems like this.• Together we can get you back in production

Claud’s story: “I have a plan.”


Fixing Intermittent Problems

• Steve Litt’s Intermittent Problem Definition: “An intermittent is a problem for which there is no known procedure to consistently reproduce its symptom.”

• Steve’s seven solutions include “general maintenance, preventative maintenance, turn the intermittent against itself, convert the intermittent into a reproducible, statistical analysis, root cause analysis, ignore it” http://www.troubleshooters.com/tpromag/9812.htm

• One (way) is to wait until the intermittent has become a more frequent or continuous problem -- that approach may not sit well with a customer. Another is to check for any technical service bulletins -- Larry Carley Troubleshooting Intermittent Engine Problems 2003

•

IBM/Lenova 17-step process:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-4YRKVX

Recent crashing problem: clean machine approach


Final Workshop

• Role-playing volunteers• Customer has intermittent problem• Engineer applies the Ten Steps

october 7, 2006code camp at foothill collegeslide 1 advanced troubleshooting skill the best bedside...

Documents

foothill collegeslide

code camp

team slide

bertalanffy slide

soft systems problem

hard systems problem

foothill college ceo

university of calgary