BlueDragon horizontal logo on a transparent background

Why BlueDragon IPS?

Critical thinking and complex problem-solving are essential leadership skills in the age of artificial intelligence.

The Challenges

The cost of recurring human-centric problems in the United States are in the trillions per year. The issues in our Health Care System and in poor software quality are costing the United States over 3 trillion dollars per year, on average. Many organizations are not aware that the hidden costs of documenting, evaluating, and correcting recurring issues can be in the millions of dollars per year…all on overhead.

We at BlueDragon identified the following three major reasons organizations are not preventing recurring complex and wicked problems.

A group of professionals in a meeting to collaborate and problem-solve

Lack of Awareness

Industries are not recognizing (and therefor not properly treating) complex human-centric problems in modern socio-technical work environments.

This leads to...

Organizations waste time, money, and resources dealing with recurring problems resulting in less time focused on their mission.

A man in a suit using his hand to stop dominoes from falling

Lack of Education

Mainstream education falls short of providing us the problem solving and critical thinking skills needed in today’s work environments.

This leads to...

More and more leaders are becoming aware that their personnel lack critical thinking skills and are relying heavily on what they hear or find on the internet.

A team of professionals using critical thinking while in a meeting

Outdated Methodologies

Most of the methods, tools and techniques for root cause analysis were created over 50 years ago and do not account for complex, 21st century problems.

This leads to...

Management is frustrated because problems are recurring in spite of best efforts to find and eliminate the causes.

The Solution: BlueDragon IPS

BlueDragon circular icon logo

IPS transforms your team into strong critical thinkers and problem solvers.

The BlueDragon Integrated Problem-solving System (IPS) is an advancement in root cause analysis that emphasizes efficiency and critical thinking to pinpoint human-centric problems that are costing the business money.

This is important because regulated industries—such as Energy, Aerospace, Food and Drug, Transportation, and Healthcare—are subject to laws requiring root cause analysis (RCA), but RCA often requires proprietary software that doesn’t provide enough detail to target complex problems.

Spend more time and resources on the mission

Accurately identify what's actually causing your problems

Prevent events from recurring and reduce your backlogs

Gain essential skills that will transform your team and advance your career

We designed BlueDragon to be fast, accurate, scalable and flexible, in keeping with today's constantly increasing demand for doing more, better, faster, with less.

Key Attributes of BlueDragon IPS

Click on each attribute to learn more about why BlueDragon IPS is the gold standard in root cause analysis and investigator training.

Lean

BlueDragon IPS is arguably the leanest method on the market.  [Lean is the elimination of waste in a process].

 

For example: subject matter experts are used sparingly (usually one to two hours); Interviews are done in small groups; There is little or no note taking (answers are posted on the chart); Results are validated as we go, so there is no lengthy validation process. And, there is no lengthy report. 

Agile

To increase efficiency, we incorporated the four values of the Agile Manifesto into the methodology.


For example: Root causes are developed through interactions with subject experts and not through proprietary software; Results are captured in their final format; End-users and process owners are brought in to collaborate in the root cause.

 
Scalable

IPS is scalable enough to be used to investigate any issue of any level of significance and complexity, making for a truly graded approach to causal analysis.

One benefit of using a scalable model for all causal analysis is that analysts rapidly gain proficiency.

 
Flexible

When investigating a complex problem, new information and inputs are coming in on a daily (and sometimes hourly) basis. 

BlueDragon is flexible enough to take any new information in stride at any time in the process (even at the final briefing of the executives), providing for a more comprehensive and rigorous investigation with better results. 

Accurate

IPS allows us to identify the deepest-seated causes of an event, issue or negative performance trend with amazing speed and accuracy. The method's accuracy comes from attacking the problem from multiple perspectives as outlined in the "Anatomy of an Event," from developing a great understanding of common causes, and by using an improved BlueDragon definition of a "root cause" that comes from three decades of solving complex problems.

 

Cost-Effective

BlueDragon combines the best features of traditional tools into a single framework and is the most lean, agile, scalable, flexible and accurate method in use at the Department of Energy's National Laboratories and the Nuclear Weapons Complex. Significant cost and resource savings can begin to be realized as soon as BlueDragon is incorporated into your Risk Management, Corrective Action and Contractor Assurance Programs. 

 
Lean

BlueDragon IPS is arguably the leanest method on the market.  [Lean is the elimination of waste in a process].


After three decades of development, BlueDragon’s creator has eliminated many of the wasted time and energy in getting to the root causes.


For example: subject matter experts are used sparingly (usually one to two hours); Interviews are done in small groups; There is little or no note taking (answers are posted on the chart); Results are validated as we go, so there is no lengthy validation process. And, there is no lengthy report. 

Scalable

IPS is scalable enough to be used to investigate any issue of any level of significance and complexity, making for a truly graded approach to causal analysis.

There is a great benefit in using one scalable model for different levels of causal analysis: the more it is used, the more proficient the analysts become in identifying the deepest-seated causes for the event. This leads to better corrective actions. 

 

Cost-Efficient

IPS combines the best features of traditional tools into a single framework and is the most lean, agile, scalable, flexible and accurate method in use at the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories and the Nuclear Weapons Complex. IPS is being adopted as quickly as clients can send their staff through one of our workshops.

The net benefits are clear: Significant cost savings can be realized once BlueDragon IPS has been incorporated into your organization’s Risk Management, Corrective Action Program and Contractor Assurance Systems.  

Accurate

IPS allows us to identify the deepest-seated causes of an event, issue or negative performance trend with amazing speed and accuracy. The method’s accuracy comes from attacking the problem from multiple perspectives as outlined in the “Anatomy of an Event,” from developing a great understanding of common causes, and by using an improved BlueDragon definition of a “root cause” that comes from three decades of solving complex problems.


IPS guides the causal analysts through the comprehensive process of data analysis, the development of evidence-based lines of inquiry, and the cause and effect analysis using the subject matter expertise of applicable parties. The overall results are outstanding.


Using the BlueDragon IPS, our clients identified the root causes for issues that plagued them for months and years.  

 

Flexible

When investigating a complex problem, new information and inputs are coming in on a daily (and sometimes hourly) basis. This requires adjusting timelines, researching requirements, generating new lines of inquiries and engaging different parts of the organization.


IPS is flexible enough to take any new information in stride at any time in the process (even at the final briefing of the executives), providing for a more comprehensive and rigorous investigation with better results. 

 

Agile

To increase efficiency, we incorporated the four values of the Agile Manifesto into the methodology.


For example: Root causes are developed through interactions with subject experts and not through proprietary software; Results are captured in their final format; End-users and process owners are brought in to collaborate in the root cause.


And, there is great flexibility built in to the BlueDragon Framework in that any input or information can be processed any time it comes in.  

The U.S. National Laboratories and the Nuclear Weapons Complex have upgraded their problem solving capabilities by switching to our state-of-the-art complex problem-solving methodology.

A graph laying out aspects of socio-technical work environments

Many of our clients were using traditional RCA tools and methodologies that have been around since the 1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s.

Those methods were designed in another era and do not account for the complex interactions found in today’s complex, socio-technical systems.

Read What Our Clients Have To Say

Get Started

Become a Dragon

There is no better way to build a resilient team or advance your career in today’s working environments than with a cutting edge BlueDragon Certification.

Hire a Dragon

For years, BlueDragon has supported the nuclear and weapons complex in a range of issues. Let BlueDragon provide the expertise needed to guide you through your most complex problems.

Continuing Education

BlueDragon provides refresher training for existing Analysts and Practitioners as well as introductory training for management.