How you solve a problem at work?

There are a few steps to be taken to avoid wasted effort:

* Determine if the problem occurred before. If the solution was successful, apply it again. If the solution was unsuccessful treat as a new problem. * If the problem is new and appears to be a once only effort or not likely to reoccur, do a causal analysis and determine the root cause and fix the root cause (Fire someone, put out the fire, kill the dragon, etc.) * If the problem is reoccurring or continuous, do a root cause analysis, fix the immediate problem and initiate systemic changes to prevent the reoccurrence of the problem A few don't:

* Don't cover over the problem for this time e.g. no tape on cancerous moles * Don't pretend it didn't happen or won't happen again * Don't just fix the immediate cause (go to the underlying or systemic cause)