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24 November 2024

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Hey friend,

November is almost done and the end of the year is just about here. How do you wrap up your work as the year winds down? Send me your best tips for year-end.

Some Thoughts

When making decisions we often know the costs but don’t know the benefits. This makes decision making difficult. For example, we know that eating healthily means we cannot eat takeout daily. We know the benefits more-or-less, but what are they exactly? Will we avoid a heart attack in 12 years and 28 days? Similarly, will going on a writing course get me a promotion as a PM? Maybe, maybe not. When making decisions try to think more deeply about the unknown benefits. Write down possible benefits and guess at a percentage chance that they will occur. It’s not exact, but it gives you a much better view of what’s possible.

What you will learn this week:

🚙 Why did Toyota have such a big influence on project management?

👶 Ask why like a toddler

✖️ Dealing with multiple root causes

How to Use the 5 Why’s to Solve Client Issues as a Project Manager

As professional project managers, one of our main responsibilities is to keep clients happy. But as with any other relationship, it takes work to get to the root of issues. Clear communication is one step, but there are also well defined techniques to get to the heart of unhappiness. One of the most powerful tools in your problem-solving toolkit is the 5 Whys technique. This method helps you dig deeper into the root causes of client issues, allowing you to implement more effective solutions and improve client relationships.

What is the 5 Whys Technique?

The 5 Whys is a problem-solving method developed by Sakichi Toyoda and popularized by Toyota’s production system. This system famously transformed Toyota carmakers into an industrial giant and created a system copied around the world. It involves asking “Why?” repeatedly (typically five times) to explore the cause-and-effect relationships underlying a problem. The goal is to identify the root cause of an issue, rather than just addressing its symptoms.

Applying the 5 Whys to Client Issues

So how do we apply this famous system to client relations? Let’s take a step-by-step approach.

Step 1: Define the Problem Clearly

Before you start asking “Why?”, ensure that you have a clear understanding of the client’s problem.

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Postscript

I'm running tests using ChatGPT as well as Claude. They both have good free tiers and allow multiple queries per day. I'll have an article soon on which may be best for the project manager. Which AI tool do you prefer?

Until next time,

Jonathan (The Effective Project Manager)

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