Pick the Best Root Cause Analysis Technique

What We’ve Previously Published About Choosing the Best RCA Techniques

What have we previously written about picking the best root cause analysis technique? Here is a sample of our previous articles…

• Comparing Major Root Cause Analysis Techniques
• Root Cause Analysis … Unfair Comparisons
• Fatal Flaws of Root Cause Analysis Systems
• How is TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Different? (Best)
• Comparing 5-Whys with Advanced Root Cause Analysis
• Comparing Common Root Cause Analysis Techniques (Updated)

However, this article is designed to give YOU ideas so that YOU can compare and evaluate various root cause analysis tools and choose the one that is best for your organization.

How To Choose the Best Root Cause Analysis System

So, here are the evaluation techniques we will consider for you to use to pick the best root cause system for your organization:

• AI
• Google Search
• Ask Your Professional Contacts and Industry Leaders
• See What Success Stories are Written About Various Techniques
• Trust Your Judgment

See the sections below for an evaluation of each approach’s usefulness in comparing root cause analysis techniques.

Use AI to Pick the Best RCA

Can AI choose the best root cause analysis system for you? Try asking AI to evaluate which root cause analysis technique is the best. I did that back in June of 2025. I asked ChatGPT…

“What is the best root cause analysis system 
for simple and complex incident investigations?“

I asked the question this way because I wanted to use a single system for both simple precursor incidents and more complex (or very complex) SIFs or process safety incidents. That way, investigators would need to be trained on only one system, management would need to understand only one system’s results, and the data produced could be compared and trended.

Here is what ChatGPT said about their answer:

The “best” root cause analysis (RCA) system depends on the complexity of the incident and the needs of your organization (e.g., industry, resources, and regulatory compliance). Here’s a breakdown of the top RCA systems that work well for BOTH SIMPLE AND COMPLEX investigations:

What was the #1 system ChatGPT recommended?

1. TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis

What did ChatGPT have to say about TapRooT® RCA?

BEST FOR: High-risk industries (oil & gas, healthcare, aviation, manufacturing)

STRENGTHS:

• Structured, systematic, and scalable from simple to complex incidents
• Emphasizes human performance and system-level causes
• Built-in tools like SnapCharT®, Root Cause Tree®, and Corrective Action Helper®

DOWNSIDES: Training required; software licensing costs

To see the complete article that I wrote about this, CLICK HERE.

I’ve gone back several times in the past year and asked the same question and similar questions on ChatGPT and other AI platforms. What did I get? Similar answers. But I also received different answers depending on how I asked the question and the AI model I used.

Here’s the thing … The root cause systems evaluated didn’t change much over that year. I know. I constantly watch them and any improvements made. There weren’t any major changes. But the answers varied somewhat depending on the AI system and how the question was asked.

Therefore, I don’t trust AI to do a technical evaluation of a business-critical tool like root cause analysis. If AI can’t produce a consistent answer, it isn’t trustworthy, and I WOULD NOT use AI to evaluate which root cause analysis tool to use.

Google It

Just Google it! However, Googling which is the best root cause analysis system is just as unreliable as the AI answer described above. I did find one interesting result. In the video section of the results, the #1 result was this video by Kevin McManus (a TapRooT® RCA Instructor)…

Is this the #1 result on your search today? Probably not. Did anything change between my search and yours? Yes. The algorithm and what people write about the techniques. The techniques themselves varied little over a six-month or one-year time span.

So even if Google shows information about TapRooT® RCA in a search, Googling the best root cause analysis system doesn’t seem like a dependable way to choose a technique for your company.

Ask Your Professional Contacts and Industry Leaders

When you ask others, you get opinions on what they think is best. Instead of asking which root cause analysis technique is best, you might ask how they decide which root cause analysis technique to use.

One drawback is that some experts say there is no “best” root cause analysis system and that every system has advantages and drawbacks. I call these people root cause collectors. They collect dozens of root cause tools. Do they get really good at using them? Probably not because they don’t get enough practice to develop real skill with any of the techniques.

This lack of practice is an issue. Think about your organization. You can’t train everyone in your company (including your management) on dozens of tools. Instead, you need to pick a standard RCA tool that works best for all the problems you face.

What about asking industry leaders? This is probably a better approach, but it still relies on opinions.

Where would you meet these industry leaders? I have a suggestion … The Global TapRooT® Summit. Of course, their opinions will be skewed. Most Summit attendees will be TapRooT® Users. But you can ask them why they chose TapRooT® RCA and what results theyhave achieved. That will give you some interesting things to consider when choosing the best root cause analysis system for your organization.

Review User Success Stories

Interesting … When I Googled Root Cause Analysis Success Stories, what did I find? Me!

I was giving a talk about RCA Success Stories. I gave it at the start of the COVID pandemic at the 2020 Global TapRooT® Summit. It was a talk about TapRooT® Users sharing their Success Stories. The first Success Story I mentioned in the talk above was the Skyline Mine Success Story (see it HERE).

To see the 27 Success Stories we have published, CLICK HERE. You will see that they span a broad range of industries and have helped solve a variety of problems.

Compare our detailed success stories with others (if they have any) and see whether that influences your decision about which root cause analysis system is best.

Trust Your Judgment and Pick the Best RCA Techniques

My final suggestion is that you attend one, two, or three root cause analysis courses, then use what you have learned to investigate several incidents at your facility. Did what you learned in a particular course make a difference in your investigations? Did you (and your management) think your corrective actions improved and would be much more effective?

Consider this … TapRooT® Training comes with this GUARANTEE…

Attend a course. Go back to work, and use what you have learned to analyze accidents, incidents, near-misses, equipment failures, operating issues, environmental permit violations, or quality problems. If you don’t find root causes that you previously would have overlooked, and if you and your management don’t agree that the corrective actions that you recommend are much more effective, just return your course materials, and we will refund the entire course fee.

I’d be surprised if you found any other root cause analysis technique with this kind of iron-clad guarantee. A guarantee that makes you feel comfortable that you will learn important new ways to improve your root cause analysis. It might even give you a hint about which root cause analysis system is best for your organization.

Register for TapRooT® RCA Training

CLICK HERE for the dates and locations of our upcoming training. Choose the best course for you and register. DON’T WAIT! You need the very best root cause analysis to solve your business-critical issues. To help you:

• Save lives,
• Reduce injuries,
• Prevent environmental incidents,
• Improve quality,
• Fix operating issues, and
• Improve equipment reliability.

We are looking forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming courses. You should be looking forward to creating your own success story by applying the best root cause analysis system.

Next Steps When Picking the Best RCA Technique

To summarize, here is what I would recommend:

1. Review the Success Stories at THIS LINK.
2. Attend TapRooT® RCA Training. Pick a course at THIS LINK and register. I suggest picking a 5-Day TapRooT® Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader Course.
3. REGISTER for the 2027 Global TapRooT® Summit to benchmark your root cause analysis practices and ask industry leaders what they are doing.

I hope these suggestions help you achieve success.