Apollo Root Cause Analysis: New Way of Thinking

It is great book that is teaching me to be open minded and not just focus on my own solution, but to listen to others and ask the why question in other to come up with a reasonable root cause.

This was a good-great book for the Apollo method but as one who has read a lot of these types of books, e.g., TQM, I found the sales pitch a little strong. The explanations were excellent with a step-by-step development, but I see nothing special here. Almost any RCA book will provide similar material. An alternative to this book could be: "Root Cause Analysis A tool for total quality management," or "Quality Improvement Toos & Techniques." The later is an excellent overview of the methods available for investigating problems --- and it is fairly inexpensive. I recommend Dean Gano's book if the Apollo RCA is your flavor.

After several years of pumping equipment failure analysis engineering, this is by far the best book I've read about the failure analysis and problem solving process. Dean Gano's approach covers the full spectrum of associated issues in a very efficient and flexible manner. He challenges a lot of failure analysis "conventional wisdom" in a very convincing manner, truly creating "a new way of thinking" that should greatly improve failure solutions.

I got fired after ordering this book for 32 employees. Best thing that ever happened to me.

Apollo is good system used by some high end companies. You won't be disappointed even if you end up using another method and just use it as a primer. The product came in a quality as good or better than advertised, shipping was on time.

If you are looking to develop expertise in root cause analysis, I highly recommend taking a training course in the Apollo method. Apollo is oriented toward understanding all the causes surrounding an issue, and is at least an order of magnitude more complex than 5 Why's or other popularized root cause analysis methods. Apollo teachers have an almost religious belief in the methodology, and with good reason, it avoids the trap of helping you find the answer you assume you will find, and actually will lead you to understand that most problems have many causes, and one that is the most effective to fix.But I got that from the class. The book alone, when i read it before I took the class, wasn't an effective teacher.Great methodology, but not a great book.

I received this book as a gift from my boss in 2008 who attended an Apollo Training. I am usually an audio book listener and finally read it today! Boy, this book has enlightened me in terms of problem solving!! I knew a few things about common quality tools used for root cause analysis (RCA) and have read plenty of incident investigation reports. The common quality tools used for RCA are Ishikawa (Fishbone) diagram, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Five-Why, Check sheets, brainstorming, and etc. The common root causes and corrective actions identified are “employee not trained” and “train employee”, “procedure not followed” and “re-train”, or “inadequate procedure” and “update procedure”. Though I am not a practicing RCA investigator, I often wondered the time and resources invested on investigating and implementing what were described in these incident reports had returned equal or more business values or successfully prevent the recurrences of the incidents.This book was an easy read. Mr. Gano’s writing style is straightforward and structured. The book was packed with years of experience and insights. Here are some of nuggets I cherished (please read these with the context that was provided in the book):1. “Each effect has at least two causes in the forms of actions and conditions”.2. “Categorization can lead to intellectual laziness… in the process of categorizing we assign value that establish our bias and prejudices.”3. On “When should an investigation be performed?”, “when you encounter unacceptable consequences.”4. On “When to stop asking “why””; “The decision to stop should be based on the significance of the problem and your ability to find the best solution.”5. Stories are linear. Linear language, linear thinking…6. Our level of knowledge (and interest) limits our ability to know many causes.7. On types of evidence: “Sensed” – best quality evidence; “Inferred” – because the inferred relationships are not always well understood, so the inferred evidence is not always reliable; “Intuition” – inferred evidence based on reason and emotion; “Emotional” – emotion are real, but not always reliable.8. “To be groovenated is to hold strong biases and prejudices.”I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested or practicing “continuous improvement”. I think Mr. Gano should consider making an audio version of this book so I would have discovered this treasure 5 years ago!

Apollo is the name given by the author to his unique approach to root cause analysis. I'm assuming this (Apollo) explains why there is a naked man on the cover, either that or this is the most unique author photo I have ever seen. The book focuses on causal relationships, emphasizing that there are often many causes (factors) contributing to an undesirable outcome. The author's insights on casual relationships and human behavior are extraordinary, it is obvious he is passionate about this topic and has had extensive experience with it. In addition to explaining " A new way of thinking", the author details specific tools (his own version of a cause-and-effect chart) that are the core of the Apollo method. And just when I started thinking that it would be great if there was software available to do this, he mentions that he has such a product available.There were a few things I didn't like about the book. In fact, after receiving the book, the combination of the naked dude on the cover (which still creeps me out) and the opening paragraph in the "How to read this book" section which you just have to say "Duh!" to, almost convinced me to not read the book at all. In addition, the branding of "Apollo" throughout the book ( frequent references to "the Apollo method", "the Apollo process", "Apollo tools") made some sections read like scripts from an infomercial. These are minor gripes though, and I'm glad I got by them and took the time to read this excellent book

Incident investigation

Systematic and good book.