[shaggyfrog]

>In other industries, such as petroleum refining, pipelines and nuclear power, their are structured methodologies for determining root causes.

I don't see why they would need a domain-specific methodology. Toyota gave us the 5 Whys, which applies nicely to just about any kind problem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys

[joezydeco]

My three year-old daughter uses the same technique, she has no idea who Toyota is. Thankfully the root cause usually ends up being "BECAUSE I SAID SO".