“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars,” Oscar Wilde wrote. Since the beginning of our time, we have pondered the universe. As the sun set on the sea, ancient mariners plotted their course by the stars. While most sailors slept or tended the sails, a few pondered great mysteries. What … Continue reading Solving Tough Technical Problems: The Importance of Effective Questions
David J. Hartshorne The New Science of Fixing Things has developed a reputation as a group of extraordinary technical problem solvers. We are the company that is called on when others have struggled. Are we smarter than others, or have we learned some important principles over the 30 years of working together on tough problems? Well, we … Continue reading Source-Load or DoE?
A Systems Approach to Discovery of Causal Mechanisms I like stories about life, history and culture, why people think the way they do, and how they arrived at the way they reason. I have been lucky to live and work in many parts of the world for the last 70 years. At the age of ten, … Continue reading Effective Process Characterization
The reason for new knowledge, Aristotle is saying, is to guide your action. Is this principle strategically integrated into your improvement program? Or are you paying for seminars and hoping for the best? We are guided by the Analytic Logic Map and the importance of seeking a Causal Explanation. A Causal Explanations is the specific piece … Continue reading “The Purpose of Knowledge is Action, not Knowledge” Aristotle
A Model-Based Approach to Performance and Reliability On September 21 and 22, 2022 Crossover Solutions and The New Science of Fixing Things are hosting a Symposium at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Detroit - Livonia/Novi John and David, as Founding Members of The New Science of Fixing Things have been called upon by clients to … Continue reading TNSFT SYMPOSIUM
I turned from the entrance at The Café in Naples, and almost knocked her over, plates and all. I grabbed the tray and held it with one hand, and her arm with the other, and lost not a glass. She was on my weak side, a few inches under 5 feet tall. I could tell … Continue reading The Dignity of Work
My birthday was a few days ago. My ex-wife and good friend, Barbara, “surprised” me with a book (she always sends a book). Barbara is one of only a few people who know my interests well enough to select a book which will capture my attention. First Principles by Thomas E. Ricks is a story … Continue reading Strategy and Structure
“We have cracked insulators in an alternator bridge. We thought we detected them all at the end of the line but the small number we fail to catch can result in a thermal incident in a vehicle.” This wasn’t the first time I had heard this annoying distortion of language. A thermal incident is a … Continue reading The Story of the Cracked Insulators
By: John Allen It is the last week of December, 2020, and I find myself in my office browsing old project notebooks and articles I have collected and written over the last 30 years. Each made a contribution to the evolution and growth of The New Science of Fixing Things becoming the most effective group … Continue reading Effective Diagnosis with Diagrams
The New Science of Fixing Things 