Point Lookout: a free weekly publication of Chaco Canyon Consulting
Volume 22, Issue 5;   February 9, 2022: Defect Streams and Their Sources

Defect Streams and Their Sources

by

Regarding defects as elements of a stream provides a perspective that aids in identifying causes other than negligence. Examples of root causes are unfunded mandates, misallocation of the cost of procedure competence, and frequent changes in procedures.
Big Spring, a giant karst spring in The Ozarks, Missouri

Big Spring, a giant karst spring in The Ozarks, Missouri. It produces water at the rate of approximately 469 cubic feet per second. That's equivalent to 459 Olympic-sized swimming pools per day. But although the spring is the source of a stream that feeds the Current River, the spring isn't the source of the water. The aquifer is the proximate source. But even before that, the source is rain. And before that the oceans. And before that, … The hydrosphere is cyclic.

Defect streams, unlike the hydrosphere, are rarely cyclic. They do have root causes, some of which are subtle. Photo (cc) Kbh3rd courtesy WikiMedia.

In many kinds of knowledge work the quality of the output is important enough that we require the people who perform the work to meet specified quality standards. When they don't, we intervene to take corrective action. That corrective action often requires changes to the way the work is performed, with the hope that the changes will lead to improved output quality. Sometimes this approach works well. But at other times, even though the changes seemed to bring about the desired improvement at the pilot scale, the results of the full-scale intervention are disappointing.

This post explores a plausible explanation of disappointing results of some interventions intended to address defects in knowledge work. That explanation depends on a model of how defects arise based on the idea of defect streams and their sources.

For concreteness, consider the case of an organization engaged in deploying a software security platform. That platform will support a large number of applications that an even larger number of people use in the course of their daily work. To ensure that users can do their work in a secure environment, it's important that the deployment meet strict security criteria — for the platform itself and for each application.

Defect streams

The people performing the work are required to follow complex procedures to ensure that each software application can be used safely. Although the procedures are similar in large part, they differ in detail depending on the type of software being installed, and on the particular product and release of that product. If the person performing the work executes it incorrectly, the evidence of the error might not appear immediately. Often, the error is discovered by the Quality Assurance team, which reports the error in a weekly defect report. We can regard these errors as comprising a defect stream.

Defect sources

Streams Those who devise procedure changes
to reduce the incidence of defects
must provide the resources necessary
to adopt their recommendations
have sources. We usually assume that the sources of the errors lie somewhere within the organization that is executing the deployment. Although it's common to assert that the cause of the errors is shoddy work by the people who last touched the defective work product, their behavior might not actually be the root cause.

Three possible candidate root causes are below:

Unfunded mandated effort
Announcing a procedure or procedure change is an important step in taking corrective actions. But unless the people who execute the procedure have access to the resources and time required to learn a procedure, or to learn about the latest changes, they cannot afford to acquire the knowledge they need to execute the altered procedure correctly.
Those who design interventions intended to reduce the volume of the defect stream must provide the resources necessary to adopt the changes they are recommending. Absent those necessary resources, the people who execute the procedures in question will scrounge equivalent resources from someplace else. The result, often, is formation of new defect sources that feed the old defect streams, or which create new defect streams.
Misallocating the cost of procedure competence
The cost of procedure competence is the cost of training the people who execute the procedure, plus the cost of ensuring their continued competence after training is complete. We usually allocate that cost to the business unit in which those people perform their work. But in many cases, that allocation is erroneous. And it might even be the root cause of the defects.
For example, consider a cumbersome and overly complicated procedure. In an extreme case, the procedure can be so gratuitously complex that nobody can apply it correctly with regularity. Defects are inevitable. Should not the cost of these defects be charged to the poor design of the procedure? Said differently, should not the cost of the training required to prevent defects be charged to the poor design of the procedure?
That is, the cost of procedure competence ought not to be borne solely by the business units responsible for executing the procedure. Some of the costs might be due to procedure design. Allocating some costs to the unit responsible for the procedure design helps to ensure that procedures are designed with learning costs and execution costs in mind.
Frequent changes in procedures
Those who execute the procedures need to understand the procedures to avoid making errors. If changes are frequent, they need to monitor the status of procedures so that they'll be aware of changes that can affect their work. That monitoring activity competes with other responsibilities for their attention.
The cost of a procedure change should include more than the cost of designing the change. Training and retraining are real costs. The unit that makes the change must provide resources to the units that must execute the change.

Although these observations are expressed in terms of defects in work product, they apply equally to compliance with policies. To see how, consider policies to correspond to procedures in the discussion above, and deviations from policy to be defects. Go to top Top  Next issue: Vendor Mismanagement  Next Issue

How to Spot a Troubled Project Before the Trouble StartsProjects never go quite as planned. We expect that, but we don't expect disaster. How can we get better at spotting disaster when there's still time to prevent it? How to Spot a Troubled Project Before the Trouble Starts is filled with tips for executives, senior managers, managers of project managers, and sponsors of projects in project-oriented organizations. It helps readers learn the subtle cues that indicate that a project is at risk for wreckage in time to do something about it. It's an ebook, but it's about 15% larger than "Who Moved My Cheese?" Just . Order Now! .

Your comments are welcome

Would you like to see your comments posted here? rbrenyrWpTxHuyCrjZbUpner@ChacnoFNuSyWlVzCaGfooCanyon.comSend me your comments by email, or by Web form.

About Point Lookout

This article in its entirety was written by a 
          human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Project Management:

Platform supply vessels battle the fire that was consuming remnants of the Deepwater Horizon oilrig in April 2010Managing Non-Content Risks: II
When we manage risk, we usually focus on those risks most closely associated with the tasks at hand — content risks. But there are other risks, to which we pay less attention. Many of these are outside our awareness. Here's Part II of an exploration of these non-content risks, emphasizing those that relate to organizational politics.
Eastern Redcedar in crossection, with white sapwood on the outside edges, and red to deep reddish-brown heartwoodThe Retrospective Funding Problem
If your organization regularly conducts project retrospectives, you're among the very fortunate. Many organizations don't. But even among those that do, retrospectives are often underfunded, conducted by amateurs, or too short. Often, key people "couldn't make it." We can do better than this. What's stopping us?
Ross Marshall and Don Pugh at the kickoff meeting for the Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS) at Tinker Air Force BaseDeep Trouble and Getting Deeper
Here's a catalog of actions people take when the projects they're leading are in deep trouble, and they're pretty sure there's no way out.
FlamesHow to Get Out of Firefighting Mode: II
We know we're in firefighting mode when a new urgent problem disrupts our work on another urgent problem, and the new problem makes it impossible to use the solution we thought we had for some third problem we were also working on. Here's Part II of a set of suggestions for getting out of firefighting mode.
A workplace training sessionTen-Minute Training
Despite decades of evolution of technology-assisted workplace learning, instructor-led classroom formats remain the most popular and effective. Now perhaps videoconferencing can help to achieve that effectiveness at lower cost.

See also Project Management and Project Management for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

A game of Jenga underwayComing September 4: Beating the Layoffs: I
If you work in an organization likely to conduct layoffs soon, keep in mind that exiting voluntarily before the layoffs can carry significant advantages. Here are some that relate to self-esteem, financial anxiety, and future employment. Available here and by RSS on September 4.
A child at a fork in a pathAnd on September 11: Beating the Layoffs: II
If you work in an organization likely to conduct layoffs soon, keep in mind that exiting voluntarily can carry advantages. Here are some advantages that relate to collegial relationships, future interviews, health, and severance packages. Available here and by RSS on September 11.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenyrWpTxHuyCrjZbUpner@ChacnoFNuSyWlVzCaGfooCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

Reprinting this article

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info

Follow Rick

Send email or subscribe to one of my newsletters Follow me at LinkedIn Follow me at X, or share a post Subscribe to RSS feeds Subscribe to RSS feeds
The message of Point Lookout is unique. Help get the message out. Please donate to help keep Point Lookout available for free to everyone.
Technical Debt for Policymakers BlogMy blog, Technical Debt for Policymakers, offers resources, insights, and conversations of interest to policymakers who are concerned with managing technical debt within their organizations. Get the millstone of technical debt off the neck of your organization!
Go For It: Sometimes It's Easier If You RunBad boss, long commute, troubling ethical questions, hateful colleague? Learn what we can do when we love the work but not the job.
303 Tips for Virtual and Global TeamsLearn how to make your virtual global team sing.
101 Tips for Managing ChangeAre you managing a change effort that faces rampant cynicism, passive non-cooperation, or maybe even outright revolt?
101 Tips for Effective MeetingsLearn how to make meetings more productive — and more rare.
Exchange your "personal trade secrets" — the tips, tricks and techniques that make you an ace — with other aces, anonymously. Visit the Library of Personal Trade Secrets.
If your teams don't yet consistently achieve state-of-the-art teamwork, check out this catalog. Help is just a few clicks/taps away!
Ebooks, booklets and tip books on project management, conflict, writing email, effective meetings and more.