Fault tree analysis (FTA) is a technique used to explore the many potential or actual causes 
of product or system failure. It is best applied when there are many possible ways for something may fail. For example, when my car doesn’t start, it could be a dead battery, a faulty starter, a loose wire, an absence of fuel, and on and on. Continue reading
With the adoption of ISO 9001.2015 and the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) revision of Circular A-123, management of both the private sector and federal government must now pay formal attention to risk across their enterprise. In addition, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has updated the “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government”, the Green Book, to better accommodate risk assessment. Continue reading
“Only after the ship has sunk does everyone know how it might have been saved.”
Healthcare is changing at an incredible pace. Identifying what’s relevant and prioritizing the changes that will impact a hospital is an enormous challenge for a hospital’s leadership. Unfortunately, many hospitals, especially rural hospitals, are not able to mitigate the problems successfully. Continue reading
There is a lot of content created around Operational Excellence and its companion disciplines – including; Leadership, Lean, Six-Sigma, Theory of Constraints, Project Management, and so on – which together comprise Operational Excellence (including the content produced by myself). But are all of these concepts as “new” as some would have you believe? Have they never been embraced or implemented in the past? Continue reading
When evaluating risk response strategies, executive management along with process owners must align risk responses with the organization’s risk appetite, business objectives, costs/benefits, and overall risk strategy/tactics. Risk response strategies and tactics may involve: Continue reading