Re:Root Cause Analysis? You're Doing It Wrong
by daxfohl on Tuesday October 14, 2025 @12:02AM
(#45576148)
I think that's a perfectly valid question, and has plenty of ways you could go.
Is the process set up so that it's literally "throw it over the wall and you're done unless the test team contacts you"? Then arguably not. You did your job e2e and there was nothing you could've done. The test team should've contacted you.
BUT, well now the director has egg on his face and makes it your problem, so "should" is irrelevant; you will be thinking about it. And you ask yourself, was there something I could've done? And you know the answer is "probably".
Then, the more you think about it, you wonder, why on earth is the process set up to be so "throw it over the wall"? Isn't that stupid? All my hard work, and I don't even get to follow its progress through to production? Is this maybe also why my morale is so low? And the morale of everyone else on the team? And why testing always takes so long and misses so many bugs?
And then as you start putting things together, you realize that your director didn't assign this to you out of spite. He assigned it to you to make things better. That this isn't a form of punishment, but an opportunity to make a difference. It's something that is ultimately a director-level question. Why is the process set up like it is? The director could put together and solve with adequate time, but at that level time is on short supply, and he's putting his trust in you to analyze and flesh out, what really is the root cause for this incredibly asinine (and frightening) failure, and how can we improve as a result?
That said, in an org so broken that something like this could happen, I'm guessing the director is wanting you to do the RCA and the ten other firedrills that you're currently fighting as well, in which case, eh, fuck it. Blame the other team and move on.
Is the process set up so that it's literally "throw it over the wall and you're done unless the test team contacts you"? Then arguably not. You did your job e2e and there was nothing you could've done. The test team should've contacted you.
BUT, well now the director has egg on his face and makes it your problem, so "should" is irrelevant; you will be thinking about it. And you ask yourself, was there something I could've done? And you know the answer is "probably".
Then, the more you think about it, you wonder, why on earth is the process set up to be so "throw it over the wall"? Isn't that stupid? All my hard work, and I don't even get to follow its progress through to production? Is this maybe also why my morale is so low? And the morale of everyone else on the team? And why testing always takes so long and misses so many bugs?
And then as you start putting things together, you realize that your director didn't assign this to you out of spite. He assigned it to you to make things better. That this isn't a form of punishment, but an opportunity to make a difference. It's something that is ultimately a director-level question. Why is the process set up like it is? The director could put together and solve with adequate time, but at that level time is on short supply, and he's putting his trust in you to analyze and flesh out, what really is the root cause for this incredibly asinine (and frightening) failure, and how can we improve as a result?
That said, in an org so broken that something like this could happen, I'm guessing the director is wanting you to do the RCA and the ten other firedrills that you're currently fighting as well, in which case, eh, fuck it. Blame the other team and move on.