JD Solomon — Active Contributor

Author of Communicating with FINESSE articles.

This author's archive lists contributions of articles and episodes.

About JD Solomon

JD Solomon, PE, CRE, CMRP provides facilitation, business case evaluation, root cause analysis, and risk management. His roles as a senior leader in two Fortune 500 companies, as a town manager, and as chairman of a state regulatory board provide him with a first-hand perspective of how senior decision-makers think. His technical expertise in systems engineering and risk & uncertainty analysis using Monte Carlo simulation provides him practical perspectives on the strengths and limitations of advanced technical approaches. In practice, JD works with front-line staff and executive leaders to create workable solutions for facilities, infrastructure, and business processes.

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Three Reasons Reliability Professionals Should Not Care about the Decision

Reliability professionals are trusted advisors. Being a trusted advisor to a person making the biggest career decision is an enormous job—as is making a good, big decision. Where most advisors lose the “trust” in “trusted advisor” is when they mix the roles of “advisor” with “decision maker.” Advisors and analysts must first be true to their data and information. How that information is used is not something you control. These are three reasons a reliability professional should not care about the decision.

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Ten Things You Might Hear an Ineffective Reliability Professional Say

A mid-level reliability engineer was disgusted, “Can you believe they didn’t ask me a single question? I knew they wouldn’t understand.” I have heard it so often that it inspired me to create the FINESSE fishbone diagram®. Improving our communication skills makes us better reliability professionals and respected trusted advisors. However, you will know an ineffective communicator by what they say. These are ten things you might hear an ineffective reliability professional say about senior management.

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Six Ways Soft Skills Matter for Engineers and Technologists

A professional colleague recently asked me how much technical knowledge someone should have before giving a presentation to senior management. My two-part answer was, “Twenty-five percent of what they know, and soft skills are as important as the facts they know.” Here’s six ways soft skills matter for engineers, technologists, and reliability professionals.

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Why Effectively Communicating System Redundancy to Decision Makers Is So Important

Effectively communicating system redundancy is important because redundancy touches system performance, risk management, disaster recovery, regulatory compliance, and customer & owner confidence. Getting the redundancy communication wrong produces blind spots and surprises. Getting it right produces a well-oiled, predictable machine. This article provides proven tips for effectively communicating system redundancy.

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How Systems & Reliability Engineers Apply Redundancy to Facilities and Critical Infrastructure

Redundancy in facilities and critical infrastructure is often misunderstood as simply having two of something. However, redundancy is a sophisticated strategy used by systems and reliability engineers to minimize failures and ensure continuous operation. It is one of several approaches to preventing system failures and comes with several key tradeoffs. This article examines four key aspects, or the four horsemen, of redundancy and why it is so important for facilities and critical infrastructure.

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Why We Struggle with Building Better Presentations (and what to do about it)

Most technical professionals find themselves bogged down by inefficient presentation preparation methods that result in information overload and diluted messaging. We need a better way. Presenting effectively to non-technical professionals is critical for conveying strategic visions, securing stakeholder buy-in, and driving decision-making. Improving the presentation development process results in increased productivity, cost savings, effective communication, and better work-life balance. This article explores ways to streamline the development of better business presentations.

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Three Ways Great Facilitators Anticipate Trouble

Great facilitators anticipate trouble when guiding groups. We normally consider conflict between the participants as the most likely disruptor. However, facilitators should be prepared to overcome a handful of disruptor types in collaborative sessions. This article discusses technology misfires and provides three case examples with solutions.

Virtual Meetings Get Zoom-Bombed

We’ve been having monthly Pee Dee River Basin Council meetings for nearly two years. I serve as the facilitator of the 25-person group and Clemson’s University’s Tom Walker is the logistics coordinator. The meetings are in a hybrid format that allows the public and stakeholders to view the meetings virtually. The meeting was Zoom-bombed mid-way through the January 2024 meeting.

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FINESSE Fishbone: The Seven Bones of FINESSE

FINESSE is a fishbone (cause and effect) diagram, a mnemonic, and a mental model. FINESSE stands for Frame, Illustrate, Noise Reduction, Empathy, Structure, Synergy, and Ethics. The FINESSE fishbone diagram is peer-reviewed and battle-tested. Most importantly, it works.

Systems Thinking

As applied to effective communication, systems thinking is the cornerstone of FINESSE.

A system is a collection of interrelated or interacting parts, each of which can affect the behavior or outcomes of the whole. One defining property of a system is that it provides a function that none of the parts can accomplish by themselves. The corollary is that a system is not the sum of the parts but the product of their interactions. [Read more…]

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FINESSE Fishbone: The Second E Stands for Ethics

The bottom line is reliability engineers must balance honesty and transparency with the pressure to meet business and customer expectations. The second E in the FINESSE fishbone diagram stands for Ethics. Three types of ethics are virtue, consequential, and duty-based. The most important aspect is understanding your ethical framework as you make decisions and communicate to others as a trusted advisor. These three tips will help you improve.

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FINESSE Fishbone: The Second S Stands for Synergy

Reliability engineers, systems engineers, and other technically trained professionals often support big decisions. Big decisions involve high levels of complexity and uncertainty, Decision makers are driven to seek the advice of an inner circle. Team dynamics overpower individual preferences. The second S in the FINESSE fishbone diagram stands for Synergy. These three tips and a three-minute video will help you improve Synergy.

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FINESSE Fishbone: The First S Stands for Structure

Reliability engineers and other technical professionals are challenged when communicating their work to senior management. The FINESSE fishbone diagram provides a system-thinking, cause-and-effect approach for communicating in the face of complexity and uncertainty. The first S in the FINESSE fishbone diagram stands for Structure. These three tips and a three-minute video will help you improve the structure of your presentations and reports.

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Using Statistical Process Control in Environmental Root Cause Analysis

We often jump to the wrong conclusions when non-compliance occurs. Non-compliance occurs when the standards and regulations designed to protect public health and the environment are unmet. Obviously, we must reduce immediate risks. However, these measures often address the symptoms and not the root causes. This leads to further delays or doubling down on the wrong things as we move through mitigation that misses the mark. Using statistical process control in environmental root cause analysis is one way to make sure you’re getting it right!

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FINESSE Fishbone: The First E Stands For Empathy

Reliability engineers are challenged to effectively communicate their technical information to senior managers and the public. The FINESSE fishbone diagram is a proven, systems-based approach for meeting the communications challenge. The first E in the FINESSE fishbone diagram stands for Empathy. These are four tips to help you improve your empathy and empathetic listening.

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FINESSE Fishbone: The N Stands for Noise Reduction

The N in the FINESSE fishbone diagram stands for Noise reduction. Cause-and-effect relationships and systems thinking are essential aspects of any communication system. We normally think of noise in four forms – the way people mentally process information, the types of forums where we present, visual and auditory effects, and communication channels. These three tips and a video clip provide focused examples.

Make Sure Your Message Is Clear

Few technical professionals fully leverage the editing tools or consistently apply the techniques to Google, Adobe, Microsoft, or social media applications. From word count to spoken words to readability, this article touches on key approaches to making your reports and presentations more concise.

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FINESSE Fishbone: The I Stands for Illustrate

Technically trained professionals often get wrapped up in things like visualization, which distracts us from our mission. Our mission is to provide information to decision makers, and technical professionals are trusted advisors. So, most of our graphics, visuals, and videos should be informational. The I in FINESSE stands for Illustrate. Illustrate includes all the visuals, graphics, videos, and other media used in technical reports and presentations. These three tips and a short video provide focused examples.

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