What is the drill-down technique?

The drill-down technique breaks the problem into its basic elements and tries to determine the root causes. It helps you to divide the process into its simplest details. This will lead to finding the root cause to be able to implement a fundamental solution.

Drill down process:

1- Address the problem:

Identifying the problem is the most important step in any problem-solving technique. Because it is the key to the whole process. If you did not identify the problem accurately, the process wouldn’t lead you to the right solution.

2- Assemble your team:

The problem-solving team should contain people who have hands-on experience and knowledge of the process. People who are close to the problem see more details than anybody else and are probably able to propose practical solutions.

3- Write down the problem on top of a paper or a board:

To be visible to the whole team, it is a practical method to ignite brainstorming and come up with creative ideas and solutions.

4- Write down a statement to summarize the problem:

Before gathering the team, everyone should be informed about the purpose of the meeting and the meeting agenda, however, writing the problem’s statement is important to make sure that everyone is on the same page and the topic is clear for everyone.

5- Write down the process:

Write down the process with which you have a problem. This should include all details from start to end. That will help the team to see the bigger picture, as some of them might be specialized in a specific task and do not have enough data about the whole process.

6- Analyze data:

Analyzing the data will help you detect the problem and determine where exactly it is. To manage this step effectively, it is important to give the floor for everyone in the team to comment and propose his point of view, in order to have a comprehensive vision from all departments and everyone connected to the problem.

Example of Using the “Drill Down” Technique

1. This technique starts with a table with the problem outlined in the first column.
2. Write down the factors causing the problem in the second column.
3. Then write down the elements leaded for the factors in the third column.
4. Keep going until you drill down the problem into its simplest manageable elements.

Drilling down the problem will help you see every single detail and help to reveal surprising facts about the problem more than what you think.

Example:

In this example, the problem is customers’ frequent complaints about late delivery. As the (customer care) department received frequent complaints from unsatisfied customers about receiving their packaged later than the expected date.

The problem-solving team discussed several factors regarding the whole delivery process from receiving the order to delivering it to the consignee; however, two factors have been determined and counted as causes of the problem. Drilling down these two factors into their elements helped to find out where the root cause of the problem is.