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Kepner-Tregoe: Houston, we have a problem!

The Apollo 13 team is famous for bringing back the astronauts stranded in space by solving difficult and complex problems. The teams solving the problems using the Kepner-Tregoe (KT) methodology and some pointers and resources are displayed on this blog. KT is one of the recommended ITSM/ITIL problem solving techniques.
Here is a presentation about problem solving in IT which includes Kepner-Tregoe and here is a presentation to the ITSMF.
Sun Global Resolution Troubleshooting (SGRT) blog is here and uses a modified Kepner-Tregoe.

The Fallacy of People Problems, and How to Solve Them is an article which points out that there are a number of causes to be investigated, usually human related.

The KT template is available here.

This paper talks about using KT in project management.

The New Rational Manager is a book published about the KT technique. Read this article of making rational decesions.
Here is a summary of the rational process:
Assess Situations
  • Identify concerns by listing them
  • Separate the level of concern
  • Set the priority level to measure seriousness, urgency and growth potential
  • Decide what action to take next
  • Plan for who is involved, what they will be doing, where they will be involved and the extent of involvement
Make Decisions
  • Identify what is being decided
  • Establish and classify objectives
  • Separate the objectives into must and want categories
  • Generate the alternatives
  • Evaluate the alternatives by scoring the wants against the main objective
  • Review adverse consequences
  • Make the best possible choice
See the Upcoming Potential Opportunity
  • State the action
  • List the potential opportunities
  • Consider the possible solutions
  • Take the action to address the likely cause/solution
  • Prepare actions to enhance likely effects
  • Set triggers for capitalizing actions
Uncover and Handle Problems
  • State the problem
  • Specify the problem by asking what is and what is not
  • Develop possible causes
  • Test possible causes
  • Determine the most probable cause
  • Verify any assumptions
  • Try the best possible solution and monitor
Foresee Future Problems
  • State the action
  • List the potential problems
  • Consider the potential problem causes
  • Take the action to address the likely causes
  • Prepare actions to reduce likely effects
  • Set triggers for contingent actions

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