This analytical technique is intended to get to the root cause of a problem by asking ‘why’ or ‘what caused this several times.
Each question seeks a deeper understanding until the asker discovers the root issue.
👥Who
Bring together people who have knowledge about the area in question.
🛠 Running the technique
Describe the problem as well as you can – use a whiteboard to write up a description that everyone agrees with.
Ask why the problem occurs. Draw a line from problem to the suggested cause A.
Ask why cause A occurs. Draw a line from cause A to new cause B.
Continue until it feels impossible to discover a further root. In practice you may ask ‘why’ fewer than 5 times. It is also possible that a problem might have more than one root cause.
Ensure everyone agrees that resolving the root cause would stop the problem at the top from occurring.
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