What’s Happening? Or not…
When solving a complex project, you typically start by gathering a group of expert colleagues. Together, the problem is defined, goals and metrics are set, and perhaps historical data is collected. That’s a great start. But then your team asks, “Now what? Where do we begin?” The initial problem may feel too large. This is when your team should look for ways to make an immediate impact. It’s the expression, “Let’s get the biggest bang for the buck.”
One method that we use is the “Is/Is Not Happening matrix”. This tool will help to narrow the focus or project scope. Use it to understand a problem by clearly defining what is and is not happening related to that problem. It helps clarify the scope of the problem, focus on important issues, and prevent digressions to irrelevant areas. In addition, it helps quickly identify the key vs support processes, and most importantly to pin-point pain points (e.g. the defects).
One thing to keep in mind is this tool works best as a team-based practice in order to get various perspectives and understanding.
If the root cause of a problem isn’t immediately obvious, the Is/Is Not matrix helps to set up the process for narrowing the scope of the situation being evaluated. Ideally, you would take the learnings from this exercise into ‘affinitizing’, or categorizing, the main issues to bring forward.
This method effectively distinguishes between what’s actually happening (“Is”) and what’s not really the problem (“Is Not”). It enhances team communication by providing a clear, shared understanding of the issue, especially during the “Define” phase of the DMAIC methodology. To execute this tool, first gather a team of SMEs and key stakeholders. Try to keep the team to around five participants from various disciplines that are directly or indirectly affected by the problem statement. We have done this exercise with more than twice this number of people and find that the input gets too repetitive or duplicated, so there is not much extra insight or value.
Next, draw four boxes on a large pad or whiteboard, labeling the columns and rows, as shown above. Hand out sticky notes to each participant. Pro Tip: Use the larger 6”x4” horizontal stickies that allows more space and medium sized permanent markers. Then ask everyone to write down one activity per sticky note that either IS or IS NOT currently happening.
Allow enough time for everyone to finish writing their thoughts. Depending on the complexity, this could take between 15 – 30 minutes. When everyone is done, each participant will then place their sticky note in the correct quadrant. Instruct participants to focus on documenting the activities that are either currently occurring or not. These categories form the columns of the quadrant. As each participant approaches the whiteboard, they will then determine whether the activity belongs in one of the rows, specifically if the activity should be happening or not. When everyone is finished, the matrix will resemble the picture below.
The two white quadrants are “good guys” (letter A & D). These are activities that are happening and should be happening or are not happening and should not be happening. You want to encourage doing more of these value-adding activities. In essence, don’t mess with what’s not broken.
Consider the two red quadrants (letters B & C) are the defective activities that are happening but should not be or are not happening but should be happening. These are the non-value adding issues that you want to bring forth in your next step towards finding the root causes.
It’s also useful to identify the key drivers; critical factors that directly and significantly influence a specific outcome. These are the independent variables that drive performance. Support drivers are secondary factors that indirectly influence the key drivers. They are not completely responsible for an outcome but help to enable the key drivers. An example of a key driver in a business context could be customer satisfaction, product features, price and quality. Supporting factors could be employee training, written policies, technology and communication. Gathering this information now will help in the next Analyze phase to understand root causes and identify areas for improvement.
In summary, the Is/Is Not Happening matrix is a powerful tool for problem-solving in preparation for a root cause analysis when you need to quickly clarify the key drivers of the issues. It helps to focus on the right issues and communicate clearly with your team what will be in scope. This tool enables buy-in to the fact that there is a problem & facilitates where to focus the next steps