REPLY Definition of root cause (SD6785)

[SDMAIL Colin Beveridge]

Posted by  "Colin Beveridge" <colin at colin.beveridge.name>

Jack 

My answer to your second question (below) might be rather naïve but I think
that finding a single root cause for a complex problem might not always be
possible. 

A combination of asynchronous influences might contribute to a problem and
the asynchronicity might disguise the combination of influences to the point
of invisibility, defeating analysis to identify a single root cause. In
other words, your analysis might identify strong causal candidates but no
single cause actually manifests itself for long enough, or indeed ever
presents itself again.

Regards
ColinB
Posted by  "Colin Beveridge" <colin at colin.beveridge.name>
posting date  Tue, 4 Mar 2008 13:47:14 -0000