2 min read
These past two weeks we hosted one of our 4-day BlueDragon Critical Thinking and Complex Problem Solving Workshop for Practitioners. The focus of these workshops is to strengthen our student’s critical thinking and skills and teach the most effective root cause methodology in the industry; Hyper-integrated Causal Analysis (HCA).
Each quarter we host at least one workshop that is open to the public, allowing anyone from any industry to sign up and learn the HCA methodology directly from Rob De La Espriella, the person that developed the HCA framework. This workshop was well attended by representatives from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Savannah River National Laboratory. We also had a recent college graduate in attendance.



BlueDragon HCA was designed to solve human-centric problems; it is a highly scalable method that can be used to investigate everything from simple issues such as minor injuries using a quick-hit investigation, all the way to the most complex of organizational and programmatic breakdowns. In any instance, users learn where to gather the needed information, how to organize it, and how to analyze the information and get to the deepest-seated causes…no matter how complex the problem gets.
This next-generation workshop features 12 case studies of realistic scenarios that are delivered through a virtual whiteboard called Mural (visit Mural.co for a free 30-day trial). Each of the case studies builds on previous concepts and allows students to immediately practice what they learned. On day 3 of the workshop, students spend approximately 5 hours working on case studies, and on day 4, they spend almost 6 hours practicing their new skills on a very realistic scenario. By the end of the workshop, not only have students developed a firm understanding of BlueDragon HCA, but more importantly, they gained the confidence to start using the methodology as soon as they graduate. One student from this workshop began conducting a Quick-Hit Investigation after only the second day of the workshop.
A senior participant from the Y-12 noted: “the workshop does an excellent job of building upon the skills/lessons gradually culminating in a full root cause analysis. I particularly liked that I was able to see and work through a full RCA by the end of the course, giving me confidence in having at least a good baseline understanding of the process. I feel confident, having completed this exercise, that I could complete a satisfactorily rigorous RCA if required.”



Another participant from Oak Ridge also said: “loved it – I actually looked forward to the class during the week. The workshop provides the best “big picture” overview of the root cause landscape. You know where/how to begin the process, and it is easily processed by non root cause personnel.”
For more information on how to solve complex, human-centric problem using the BlueDragon HCA methodology, visit us at: https://bluedragon1-ips.com/