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Techniques
Root Cause Analysis
.2 The Five Whys
The five whys is a question asking process to explore the nature and cause of a
problem. The five whys approach repeatedly asks questions in an attempt to get
to the root cause of the problem. This is one of the simplest facilitation tools to
use when problems have a human interaction component.
To use this technique:
Step 1.
Step 2.
Step 3.
Write the problem on a flip chart or whiteboard.
Ask "Why do you think this problem occurs?" and capture the
idea below the problem.
Ask "Why?" again and capture that idea below the first idea.
Continue with step 3 until you are convinced the actual root cause has been
identified. This may take more or less than five questions—the technique is called
the five whys because it often takes that many to reach the root cause, not
because the question must be asked five times.
The five whys can be used alone or as part of the fishbone diagram technique.
Once all ideas are captured in the diagram, use the five whys approach to drill
down to the root causes.
10.40.4 Usage Considerations
.1 Strengths
• Helps to maintain an objective perspective when performing cause-and-effect
analysis.
• Enables stakeholders to specify an effective solution at the appropriate points
for corrective action.
.2 Limitations
• Works best when the business analyst has formal training to ensure the root
causes, not just symptoms of the problem, are identified.
• May be difficult with complex problems; the potential exists to lead to a false
trail and/or dead–end conclusion.
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