Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 146 Location: Garden City, KS
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:24 am Post subject: Your Top Gun has hit a snag.
John is a terrific technician. From college he took to automotive diagnostics like Josh Waitzkin did to chess. Not only was he very adept at it and able to catch on quickly, he was also very passionate about it. Many hours of his life were dedicated to reading books, trade magazines, and spending time on industry forums and websites. Combined with his natural ability, his passion took him to a highly respected position amongst his peers; not only within his local community, but also nationally with recognition from his membership to industry forums.
John always attends training, soaking it up like a sponge. He even volunteers to use personal vacation time to attend more training that isn't local. John uses his knowledge and passion to help the others in the shop learn more, and that passion tends to rub off on the other employees.
There's a car in John's bay now. This car is unlike most...John "can't" figure it out. He's gone through his diagnostic strategy, found what he thought was the culprit, and replaced it. But the car is still not fixed. Out of frustration, he replaced the "new" part with another new part, just in case. He knows that sometimes bad "new" parts can be the most difficult to diagnose. He's stayed late a few nights working on his own time, trying to figure this car out. John is at his wit's end. This is not an unfamiliar carline, he has the proper information and tooling. These facts are what make this most frustrating to John...he knows/feels he should be able to diagnose this car!
How does management deal with this? From what you would do now vs. a more Deming approach.
Joined: 07 Sep 2007 Posts: 1 Location: St. Louis, MO
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:30 pm Post subject:
Some resources we use after the usual process doesn't fix the vehicle:
Our usual process includes contacting other techs in the shop and using information systems, iatn and identifix.
1. Call the hotline and follow their instructions.
2. Call the teacher at the school where our diagnostic techs are enrolled in advance training.
3. Call techs we know at other shops for ideas.
4. Call the dealer where we buy highest volume of parts for ideas.
Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 774 Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 7:54 am Post subject: Re: Your Top Gun has hit a snag.
Hi Matt,
MattFMN wrote:
There's a car in John's bay now. This car is unlike most...John "can't" figure it out. He's gone through his diagnostic strategy, found what he thought was the culprit, and replaced it. But the car is still not fixed. Out of frustration, he replaced the "new" part with another new part, just in case. He knows that sometimes bad "new" parts can be the most difficult to diagnose. He's stayed late a few nights working on his own time, trying to figure this car out. John is at his wit's end. This is not an unfamiliar carline, he has the proper information and tooling. These facts are what make this most frustrating to John...he knows/feels he should be able to diagnose this car!
How does management deal with this? From what you would do now vs. a more Deming approach.
This is an interesting scenario. The nature of the problem is not given (e.g., won't start, die's occasionally, pulls to the right on braking, etc.) so my thoughts are somewhat general.
In my experience, when a tech of this caliber cannot diagnose the problem it is one or more of a few things.
The "problem" was not properly defined or there is a lack or improper information.
The tech lacks an accurate test method for the problem component.
The faulty component is not being tested.
There is more than one problem, compounding the symptom.
He is assuming a new part is a "known good" part.
In such a situation, I would first listen to the testing procedure. Not that I am as good as the tech at diagnosis, but often I might spot a logic error in the procedure. We might then write out the procedure, to see if something is being missed.
The client should also be involved at this stage and the tech and client should be communicating directly.
I would advise the tech to "forget" everything they "know" about the vehicle and start fresh again, assuming nothing. I might also advise moving on to another vehicle for a day and coming back. Sometimes coming back, something is more obvious. Finally I would request they let another tech take a look. Sometimes a "fresh pair of eyes" can spot something.
I would also try to look at the conditions that could have brought the situation to this point. This would be in an effort to reduce future occurrence. For instance, it too much pressure to perform being brought. I dislike the "shaman" mentality, where any person is expected to be all-knowing.
This makes it very difficult for a person elevated to this status to ask for help. It also puts way too much pressure on them to always be right. I might also treat John and his wife to a weekend away at company expense. There is nothing I see wrong with letting John know, we can't win them all. Burning out such a valuable person makes no sense.
Thanks Matt, this is a great and thought provoking post.
Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 146 Location: Garden City, KS
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:42 pm Post subject:
Mike Najjar wrote:
Some resources we use after the usual process doesn't fix the vehicle:
Our usual process includes contacting other techs in the shop and using information systems, iatn and identifix.
1. Call the hotline and follow their instructions.
2. Call the teacher at the school where our diagnostic techs are enrolled in advance training.
3. Call techs we know at other shops for ideas.
4. Call the dealer where we buy highest volume of parts for ideas.
Thanks for the reply, Mike. This is a hypothetical situation, that is why I left it so generalized with little detail with the cars symptoms. But, the situation itself is very common. Granted, most shops don't have techs of "John's" caliber...John is a figment of my imagination. Although I know a few techs that he is based upon. The idea behind the post is how to deal with this person, this vehicle, and the client.
The tech's confidence HAS to be destroyed. He is used to "winning". He, perhaps, justifies all his devoted time and energy to training because he is rarely (if ever) challenged by a car. He also has a reputation he may feel he needs to live up to. I can tell you from experience that there are few things worse than high expectations, especially when they do not leave much room to exceed.
The vehicle. It's broken. What can be done?
The client. How are they going to be involved? How can this be explained to them?
Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 146 Location: Garden City, KS
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:57 pm Post subject: Re: Your Top Gun has hit a snag.
louis wrote:
Hi Matt,
This is an interesting scenario. The nature of the problem is not given (e.g., won't start, die's occasionally, pulls to the right on braking, etc.) so my thoughts are somewhat general.
In my experience, when a tech of this caliber cannot diagnose the problem it is one or more of a few things.
The "problem" was not properly defined or there is a lack or improper information.
The tech lacks an accurate test method for the problem component.
The faulty component is not being tested.
There is more than one problem, compounding the symptom.
He is assuming a new part is a "known good" part.
In such a situation, I would first listen to the testing procedure. Not that I am as good as the tech at diagnosis, but often I might spot a logic error in the procedure. We might then write out the procedure, to see if something is being missed.
The client should also be involved at this stage and the tech and client should be communicating directly.
I would advise the tech to "forget" everything they "know" about the vehicle and start fresh again, assuming nothing. I might also advise moving on to another vehicle for a day and coming back. Sometimes coming back, something is more obvious. Finally I would request they let another tech take a look. Sometimes a "fresh pair of eyes" can spot something.
I would also try to look at the conditions that could have brought the situation to this point. This would be in an effort to reduce future occurrence. For instance, it too much pressure to perform being brought. I dislike the "shaman" mentality, where any person is expected to be all-knowing.
This makes it very difficult for a person elevated to this status to ask for help. It also puts way too much pressure on them to always be right. I might also treat John and his wife to a weekend away at company expense. There is nothing I see wrong with letting John know, we can't win them all. Burning out such a valuable person makes no sense.
Thanks Matt, this is a great and thought provoking post.
What I like most about your reply is that you mention taking pressure off the tech. With his confidence dropping, the pressure could prove crippling. Putting him on a different car for awhile is a great idea that works more often than not. I would have added: kicking him out of the shop after work. Yeah, one night is acceptable if not admirable....but after that, he needs to get away from the car and the problem and get his mind on something else.
That's where your weekend get away idea took me off guard. How many shops, much less businesses would even consider that?
Thanks Louis, your replies always get me thinking. Later, Matt.
Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 774 Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:29 am Post subject: Re: Your Top Gun has hit a snag.
MattFMN wrote:
What I like most about your reply is that you mention taking pressure off the tech. With his confidence dropping, the pressure could prove crippling. Putting him on a different car for awhile is a great idea that works more often than not. I would have added: kicking him out of the shop after work. Yeah, one night is acceptable if not admirable....but after that, he needs to get away from the car and the problem and get his mind on something else.
That's where your weekend get away idea took me off guard. How many shops, much less businesses would even consider that?
Thanks Louis, your replies always get me thinking. Later, Matt.
I have two cardinal rules that have served me well over the years:
Nobody works for me for free; not ever.
All my techs are DGT; no superstars.
Being a superstar puts way too much pressure on a person. It's hard to ask for help when everyone expects you to be all knowing. It can also make it difficult for a person to accept change. For instance letting go of knowledge that has been professed, in light of truer knowledge coming available.
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