How do you teach and explain data and root cause analysis to a newbie? Some say it’s difficult if your student has no interest whatsoever in analytical work. True but it can be done.
I’m sure most of you have watched the CSI series or at least have heard of it. At least where I live, it’s a TV show that almost everyone watches. What makes it interesting to watch is seeing actors go through facts, situations, evidence and use different technologies to solve a criminal case.
Well, this is one example I had to use with one of my QA evaluators. I started teaching her the step by step process, but however hard I try, nothing seems to make sense her. I then used the CSI analogy. I was lucky she loved the show. This confirmed her interest in data analysis.
What our QA analysts go through is almost the same as what investigators do on a daily basis. We have several data points, situations and experiences we can pick up from a call and place it in a simple spreadsheet. One can go through several ways of trending data but the exciting part is when one can tell a story about it. It could mean we’ve solved an issue at one point but it can also remain unsolved until new data has been found.
Simple steps can matter a lot and this analogy has worked wonders for my team. Why don’t you try it? Their expression is priceless when they get it.
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