Troubleshooting: A Method For Solving Problems The Right Way

We’ve all experienced that magic moment when, after countless frustrating hours of experimentation and racking your brain, the object of our attention starts working. The 3D printer finally produces good output. The hacked up laptop finally boots. The car engine finally purrs. The question is, do we know why it started working?

This is more important than you might think. Knowing the answer lets you confirm that the core problem was solved, otherwise you may have just fixed a symptom. And lack of understanding means fixing one problem may just create another.

The solution is to adopt a methodical troubleshooting method. We’re talking about a structured problem solving technique that when used properly can help us solve a problem at its core without leaving any loose ends. Such methodology will also leave you knowing why any solution did or didn’t work in the end, and will give you reproducible results.

It is not reasonable to expect that we can effectively repair anything we do not understand. For example, if a car isn’t running quite right, it’ll be pointless to attempt a fix if you don’t know the basics about ignition timing, fuel delivery, how the engine functions at least on a basic level.

If you’re trying to build something from scratch or do a significant modification on an existing product, then a solid understanding of what the end product should look like will be needed. If you’re not up to speed on these things, it might be time to do a deep dive, going down the rabbit hole as they say, on the subject at hand.

Wikipedia, technical articles, forums, social media communities (groups.io, facebook groups, reddit, etc), and of course Hackaday are all possible resources for learning. Once you understand how any system is supposed to work, then you can begin the next step of troubleshooting: The process of elimination.

Now that you’re as expert as you’re going to be on your subject of choice, it’s time to dive in and see what’s wrong. Armed with our clear vision of what a successful process looks like and the process of elimination, we’re going to investigate. Yep, we’re going full Sherlock Holmes! If you grew up playing a certain trademarked and copyrighted board game, then you’ll have a clue how this works.

The goal is simple: Identify all the steps that make up a successful process, and then check them one by one, starting with the first step — even if (especially if!) you think you know where the problem already is. One step at a time. Not multiples, and definitely not all of them. No skipping ahead. Just one. And then, after you check on just one of the items at a time, you make a note: Did it solve the problem? Yes? No? Not sure? That’s fine.

At each stage, record your results and then move on to the next item on your list. Recording the results is vital to the process. And sometimes we don’t have all the facts until later in the investigation. So being able to review notes will help us spot trends we’d never have noticed otherwise.

Even if you think you solved the problem, keep going through your list. Go through the entire system to make sure that the whole thing works the way it should. Troubleshooting is incomplete if you only look at a portion of the process.

In more complex systems, a tiered approach will be very useful. Start with a high level overview of the system at hand. Step through the process until you find something broken. Once you isolate the problem area, restart the troubleshooting process in that problem area, making notes as you go. If you do fix a problem, then go back up to the first tier of troubleshooting and continue until the process is completed. This will help you answer the next question.

If you’ve identified and solved what you believe to be the core problem, then it’s time to verify that the fix is effective. The best way to do this is to put your item or process under test in the same way that it’ll be used. Sometimes this is simple: The Thing works, and it’s fixed; there’s very little in between to be had. Other times, more extensive testing is needed. Imagine fixing a car that won’t start, handing the keys to its owner, and then finding out the hard way that it also had no brakes!

So it may be that you need to go for a ‘test drive’ so to speak. The goal should be to verify that you didn’t solve one problem but create two more and that the entire system works as designed.

Just like any method or process, it’s quite possible to think we’ve got it right when we don’t. Troubleshooting is no different. If we skip ahead in the process at all or don’t take notes along the way, it’ll be pretty easy to miss the problem. Similarly, if we don’t fully understand the subject, we might not be able to identify when something doesn’t look quite right.

On the other hand, maybe we’re taking a project over from somebody else and they’ve told us what’s wrong with it, but admit that they don’t know how to fix it. This raises a thorny question: If they don’t know how to fix it, then how can they be sure what’s wrong with it to begin with? Take the incoming info with a grain of salt and verify for yourself what the problem is before you start looking for a solution.

When I was young, I heard the woes of backyard mechanics who lamented that they’d replaced hundreds of dollars worth of parts, but the issue they were experiencing went unsolved. I distinctly recall them blaming the fancy new “electronic stuff” (fuel injection) for their problems.The reality is that they didn’t understand the system they were working with and therefore could not troubleshoot it effectively, and so they stopped analyzing the problem and just reacted to it by throwing parts at it until something hopefully worked. And this is another way to fail at the troubleshooting process.

There are some instances when the exact troubleshooting process can be overkill. To lean on the car analogy again, imagine that you have an older fuel injected vehicle that isn’t running right. It may be that due to the age of the overall system, no single thing will really solve the problem. Years of crud, poor connections, and worn out parts all contribute to a vague problem that is difficult to reproduce. Furthermore we don’t know when the system was last serviced. In such cases, taking the shotgun approach may be needed. And no, I’m not talking about taking it out back and shooting it!

The aforementioned troubleshooting method could be described like a high precision rifle: We aim carefully and apply a fix. The shotgun method is the exact opposite: We aim in the general direction of the problem and fire multiple projectiles, hoping that one of them hits their mark and solves the problem.

In our ailing EFI example, it might not be unreasonable to replace all of the sensors and any broken connectors. This would be followed by rebuilding the mechanical portion such as the throttle body. Even replacing fuel pumps, filters, and cleaning the fuel delivery system with a fuel additive can be helpful. And then once the system has been brought back to a known state, it can be tested and any remaining faults can be scrutinized using the proper troubleshooting technique.

Another use case for the shotgun approach is when we have a time sensitive issue that needs to be fixed. The root problem may have only a few known causes, so applying all of the fixes at once may be faster in some cases. For example we might not have time to properly troubleshoot a mission critical server with an unknown hardware problem. Swapping the storage system into a new computer will get it back online quickly, and then the previous hardware can be subjected to testing without such time constraints.

No matter the case though, having a solid understanding of the system you’re working on will help you to take the correct approach to solving the problem.

You might have noticed that the troubleshooting methods discussed are mighty similar to the scientific method that at the very least, most of us learned in school. And that’s why taking notes is so important.

Adam Savage famously quipped “Remember kids, the only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down!” (This was later attributed to Alex Jason.) And that’s really the point here: Writing things down, making notes about things whether they work or not is a vitally important part of this entire process. Otherwise, we’re just blindly stabbing into the darkness.

I hope that this foray into fixing fiddly things has been useful for you. Do you have your own troubleshooting story, method, or “Aha!” moment to share? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!

Avaya Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy After Cloud Subscription Accounting Woes

The UC giant, which is filing for bankruptcy for the second time in six years, listed in its filing unsecured claims valued in millions from the likes of Verint Americas, Microsoft and solution provider giant SHI International. Avaya’s CEO says the company is poised for a ‘transformation.’

Struggling unified communications giant Avaya Holdings Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday in federal court in Texas.

The filing follows months of speculation of a bankruptcy declaration following Avaya’s 2022 cloud subscription accounting problems that led to substantial earnings and revenue target misses.

Durham, N.C.-based Avaya said in a press release that “these actions will not impact the company’s customers, channel and strategic partners, suppliers, vendors or employees.”

[RELATED: Avaya Bankruptcy Filing: 5 Things To Know]

In its bankruptcy court filing, Avaya lists total assets of between $1 billion and $10 billion and total liabilities of between $1 billion and $10 billion. The company lists its number of creditors as being between 25,001 and 50,000.

The firm in the court filing lists the creditors with the largest unsecured claims include Verint Americas in the amount of $22.93 million; Microsoft for $9.01 million; Wistron Corp. for $8.9 million; and solution provider giant SHI International for $7.71 million.

Avaya previously filed for bankruptcy in 2017.

Avaya’s stretch of financial difficulties began in May when the company reported that it had missed its revenue target and posted a considerable earnings miss with revenue that declined 20 percent during the company’s third-quarter 2022, which ended June 30, 2022. The company then made the move to replace Jim Chirico, the company’s CEO since 2018. Alan Masarek was brought on in August as president and CEO after serving as Vonage’s CEO for six years.

“I joined Avaya to help unlock the power of its iconic brand, global customer footprint, massive partner ecosystem, large-scale communications deployments and outstanding team,” Masarek said in a statement published on Tuesday. “Strengthening Avaya’s capital structure is a critical step to fully realize our transformation, and we are excited to move ahead as a well-capitalized company with one of the strongest balance sheets in our industry that includes substantial cash to invest in our own success.”

In late December, Avaya said its stock could be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because the average closing price of the its common stock was less than $1 over a consecutive 30 trading-day period.

Completing the financial restructuring will reduce the company’s total debt by more than 75 percent, from approximately $3.4 billion today to approximately $800 million, Avaya said. Additionally, Avaya said it has secured committed financing of approximately $780 million.

The financial restructuring will give the company improved financial flexibility to boost up its investment in communications products, solutions and services for customers, including the Avaya Experience Platform, its cloud-based Contact Center offering, Avaya said.

Avaya’s strategy includes a multistep process of shifting its portfolio and customers entirely to cloud—whether it’s private, multitenant or somewhere in between. It will also include a “cultural revitalization” that will allow Avaya to bring in the right talent for the work ahead, Masarek told CRN in an interview when he joined the company.

The company said it expects this financial restructuring to be completed within 60 to 90 days.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel to Avaya, Evercore Group L.L.C. is serving as financial advisor and AlixPartners LLP is serving as restructuring advisor.

Avaya Stacks C-Suite With Three New Executives

Ahead of Avaya ENGAGE 2023 next week, the UC giant announces a new CFO, CMO and chief product officer.

Amy O’Keefe, Avaya’s newly named finance chief

Nearly one year since bringing on Alan Maserek as its new CEO, Avaya is revamping its C-suite by bringing on three new executives.

The UC giant has named Amy O’Keefe as its new chief financial officer, Josh Mueller as its chief marketing officer, Omar Javaid as chief product officer (CPO). All three executives will report directly to Maserek.

The hirings mark a critical step in the company’s business transformation, Avaya said of the new hires announced on Friday. The company in May emerged from its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing in six years following months of speculation of a bankruptcy declaration after Avaya’s 2022 cloud subscription accounting problems that led to substantial earnings and revenue target misses.

[Related: Avaya CEO Calls For ‘Innovation Without Disruption’ For Enterprises]

O’Keefe in her new role as CFO will take over responsibility for the global finance organization from Becky Roof, managing director at global consulting firm AlixPartners, LLP, who was appointed as interim CFO in November. O’Keefe has more than three decades of financial experience and most recently served as CFO of WW International, formerly Weight Watchers International. She previously held CFO roles at Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare, Savant Systems, D&M Holdings, and was divisional CFO at Black & Decker.

Mueller, the company’s new CMO that will join Avaya on July 17, will oversee worldwide marketing activities. He most recently served as chief digital officer and general manager of the portfolio business unit at National Instruments. He also held the position of chief digital officer for Vonage, CMO at Dun & Bradstreet and also held marketing leaderships roles at Dell.

Mueller is taking over for interim CMO Kim Howland, who stepped in to lead marketing since August after the departure of Simon Harrison, senior vice president and CMO of the company for more than two years.

Javaid is filling the vacant CPO position and he joined Avaya on Thursday to lead product strategy and management and strategic alliances and technology partners. He most recently served as senior vice president and general manager for Qualcomm. Before that, the tech veteran was president of the Nexmo API platform unit and Chief Product Officer at Vonage. Javaid has also held various leadership roles at TiVo, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola.

“As Avaya enters a dynamic new chapter, the extensive industry and management experience of these executives will help us rapidly build on the leadership position we have established in customer experience,” Masarek said in a statement. “We operate in a very competitive technology industry, and seasoned executives like [O’Keefe, Mueller and Javaid] could choose to work anywhere. Their decision to join Avaya is strong affirmation of the company’s potential and validates that we have set Avaya on the right path for our customers, partners and employees.”

CEO Maserek joined the company in July.

Avaya’s annual ENGAGE 2023 customer and partner conference begins this Sunday in Orlando.