Leveraging Human-Centered Techniques in Root Cause Analysis: Tracing Cause Without Blame

May 28, 2021

Many organizations—including government, business, and healthcare—use root cause analysis to identify the fundamental reasons for an incident or failure so that they can improve future outcomes. Within product management and development, root cause analysis can lead to the source of an issue, allowing teams to enact corrective measures. Root cause analysis often stops short at what and who instead of the systemic why, which can lead to a culture of blame without lasting improvement.

What if tools from human-centered design, engineering, and psychology can lead to an improved understanding of why incidents occur and identify optimal solutions?

Our guest presenters from ManTech’s Health Division — Edward O’Connor, Director, Architecture and Janie Gittleman, Ph.D., Executive Director, Global Health Innovation — shared real-life stories, reviewed outcomes from the analysis process, and discussed how human-centered techniques can lead to better results. The presentation included different root cause analysis techniques and additional concepts from cognitive science, epidemiology, and machine learning.