The Five Whys

Any process is susceptible to unforeseen circumstances or issues. Things frequently go differently than planned. Team members frequently come up with a rapid but temporary fix to an issue when it occurs within a project. However, as the project develops, the complexity of the issue renders short fixes worthless. If the underlying reason is not found and adequately handled, it will keep happening. In other words, if you don't create a long-term fix for the issue, it will keep happening until it is.

We can determine the source of a problem by using the 5 Whys Problem Solving Technique, which involves asking questions. It's an easy method to evaluate a situation and determine the root cause of the issue. The 5 Whys Technique, created by Sakichi Toyoda, the creator of Toyota, is used for problem-solving, troubleshooting, and process improvement. It might not be able to cure the issue on its own, but it can point you in the direction of a different solution, such as using an Ishikawa diagram or another problem-solving technique.

The number 5 in the title implies that there should be around only 5 queries necessary to identify the problem's fundamental causes. The method involves asking "why" five times, which should help you discover the source of the issue.

The method is intended to lead you to the source of the issue. When you need to identify the underlying reason for a problem or an issue, you might apply the 5 Whys Problem Technique. It won't be of any use to truly resolve the issue. You can do this in a different way, but finding the source of the issue can help you solve it more effectively.

The 5 Why Problem Solving Technique is useful for:

• Process and quality improvement

• Identifying and resolving issues

• Future-proofing and problem prevention

The first step is to assemble the team and specify the nature of the problem you're trying to solve. If the problem is currently occurring, it could be beneficial to see it happen in real-time. Next, decide what it should be doing and define it. What would be better, in other words?

Then, start the procedure outlined below after writing the issue on a board or piece of paper.

Start with the issue at hand and inquire as to "why" it exists. Following the response to the first question, you should ask the next "why" inquiry. Here's an illustration:

Why weren't pay stubs sent to employees on payday? (The issue)

Because the day before payday, the printing system failed.

Why?

Because a hardware issue prevented the system from recovering.

Why?

Because the hardware is obsolete and has no redundant automatic backup.

Why?

The system hasn't been updated because, in the current economic situation, its replacement hasn't been deemed a high enough priority to fund for.

Why?

Because there is no enterprise planning approach in place at the company to balance the risks of present operational systems failing against their importance and the consequences of doing so.

Although you might go as far as a sixth or seventh reason, five usually suffices to get to the heart of the matter.

It's critical to realise that the fifth why often refers to procedures rather than a solution. Only the root cause of the issue is revealed in this response.

To ascertain the reason the fundamental cause occurred, another method of problem-solving will be helpful at this point. You can then use a cause-and-effect diagram to identify which step in the process went wrong and what remedies are required to prevent this from happening again.

Here is another example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdm-23pdS-I

Well, jokes apart :P, the programme has received some criticism for being overly simple or failing to solve the issue. But the strategy is really helpful when time is limited, and you need to find the main cause quickly.