THE 5 WHY’s FOR ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS:
A very simple technique to find out the root cause of a problem is to use the 5 Why’s. The number 5 is
just a general guideline and sometimes it may take a lot more or a lot less “why” questions to arrive at the root cause for a given problem.
The beauty of this technique is that it is so simple and natural, we learnt it when we were kids yet so many of us have forgotten its effectiveness. It can be used at an individual level or at a team level to reach consensus of a root cause. At a team level the diversity and different angles allow for a more interesting analysis.
The 5 WHY technique:
STEP 1
Write down the problem
STEP 2
Ask WHY is this problem occurring? Write the answer down
STEP 3
If you or the team do not deem the answer the root cause of the problem, then repeat STEP 2 until you finally
realise the root clause.
EXAMPLES:
Problem:
“Our testing activities are taking very long to complete”
why:
are our testing activities taking so long to complete?
answer:
our testing is very manual
why:
is our testing manual ?
answer:
we dont do automated testing
why:
dont we do automated testing?
answer:
we do not have testers with automation experience
Problem:
“Our tyre costs for our large mining trucks are double the cost of previous projects”
why:
are our tyres costing double for this project?
answer:
they are been replaced quicker than before
why:
are they been replaced more often than before
answer:
because there is more wear and tear
why:
is there more wear and tear than previous projects?
answer:
because the previous projects had smooth roads
why:
did the previous projects have smooth roads
answer:
this project terrain and geology is different and more rocky
why:
have we not made the roads smoother for this project
answer:
there was no initial budget set aside for this as we used the previous project costs as a baseline
Filed under: Techniques