How do fighter pilots (top guns), firemen and other emergency workers deal with a crisis situation? They go onto “automatic mode” which was drilled into their psyche over a period of time…
Ever wondered why pilots are trained on simulators? They are trained to quickly ascertain a snapshot of what is happening and what is not happening. Based on these nanoseconds of bits of factual information they are trained to make “snap” deductions and produce the most appropriate actions.
There is another answer to my “WHY?” question and that is rooted in the physiological set-up of our bodies. When faced with a crisis situation our adrenalin pumps excessively and everything we do become an automatic reflex and not necessarily a rational response. We need to get the brain to reconnect to our bodies (including our speech) and the best way to do it is through a renewed intensive focus.
When 18 people are doing 18 different things in the war room or bridge you need to get them focused as quickly as possible. There is no better way of doing this in a productive way than to get them to identify the most accurate “fault” from the outset.
The first reports normally represent a consequence of a fault and we need to get back to the fault. For instance; “Internet degrading” is describing a consequence of the fault and could represent over 200 possible causes – hence 18 people doing 18 different things… However, by asking “What do you mean by degrading?” you might get back to the most accurate fault of “SSL handshake is slow”. This sounds more like a workable fault and much less possible causes to investigate.
So, by asking certain rehearsed interrogative questions (just like the pilot is doing) you will create a much more accurate snapshot of the fault, and at the same time you get the incident investigation team the opportunity to reconnect with their brains again.
