Practice Blameless Problem Solving- Fundamental No 3

"Demonstrate a relentless solutions focus rather than pointing fingers or dwelling on problems. Identify lessons learned and use those lessons to improve ourselves and our processes so we don’t make the same mistake twice. Get smarter with every mistake. Learn from every experience."

Hi Cyberfolks,

If your household is anything like mine, I’m sure this fundamental can improve life at home not just at work.

We are trying our hand at improvements at the moment and to prepare my wife has been watching youtube clips after which, she then convinces me to take on more adventurous projects.

It started with replacing a toilet and now we are doing an entire bathroom. What would take a skilled plumber a couple of hours we manage to string out for an entire Sunday!

This weekend I tried my hand at soldering plumbing pipes to a new shower valve. I didn’t feel the need to watch any video beforehand. Yui had measured out the required length of solder and bent it so I wouldn’t use too much but in my head I thought, it's like welding steel ( it’s not) and I should see a bead forming on the joint. I overdid it and burnt through four times the amount of silver solder which ended up almost clogging the pipe.

A heated discussion ensued where Yui reminded me of the finer points of soldering and how she told me twice to not overdo it. To be honest, I was far too excited to get my hands on the gas torch (also handy for crème Brulee) and wasn’t listening to anything once it was out of the box.

She blamed me, I blamed her, and then we had another try, and hey presto a nice clean welded joint and two very smug amateur plumbers.

I think it's natural for humans to try and deflect when something goes wrong or we make a mistake because none of us wants to appear stupid or unskilled. I know I don’t, especially if it’s going to cost money.

You will never get in trouble at Cyberhawk for making a mistake. It’s inevitable that you will.

We are trying new things all the time and making mistakes is just part of the journey. Experimenting is sometimes about proving what doesn’t work, what fails is good to know too.

This doesn’t excuse reckless behavior, however. You can’t say I rolled the vehicle because I was stoned, but hey everyone makes mistakes.

Let’s make sure we learn from our mistakes and share so others don’t have to go through that pain again.

Thanks for reading!

Chris F