When things go wrong use the 5 Why's analyses

There is a lot of times when you are sitting there after failed project or a task staring to the void and the only thing that could come from your mount is just "well, shi*t".

And despite the numerous times that you have tried to find the reason over and over again it feels like it is just another failed project.

Well at least i had this experience, till i found this gem named "5 why's analysis".

5 why's is a ?root cause analysis approach pioneered by Toyota, which fascinates with it's simplicity and straightforwardness.

By Asking why five times you or your team will dig deeper over the issue in order to find the general Root cause.

This method not only provides much richer information why something happens but also provides foundation for future-proofed resiliency.

For what is good for?

From my personal experience this method have really great benefits on dealing with semi-complex to complex problems and is ideal for using to not only company-wide and project based problems but also personal situations too ( if you can be honest with yourself of course).

Generally it can be used for any type of issue which root cause is not clear enough.

How to use it?

As simple as it sounds, you just need to follow those general steps written below:

1. Gather all Involved Teammates

the first step is to find all involved team members in this particular issue in order to ensure that there will be no missing information or technical gaps.

2. Define the problem

Next step is to define the problem in it's purest sense. the Important part here is that the problem should be defined in such a way that it will not mislead people to look for the answer in wrong place.

3. Ask Why

And let's the fun starts :) with each asked why more and more information will be shared which not only will narrow the probable causes but also will direct the people on which direction to dig.

4. When to stop asking why?

Don't be mislead to the name 5 why's , it was named by that as in most common situations five rounds of why should be enough to get to the bottom of the Root cause. However if after the fifth one the answer is not very clear, then you defiantly should proceed to drill down, till there is no more useful responses. Then this means you have reached the general root cause of the issue.

Notes

As with every approach there are some important elements that need to be remembered while using especially with team members:

Make sure all the information is available

one of the important elements is that for this method to work properly you should get the all of the team members which were involved in the problem, and to be sure there are no external factors related to it.

No Finger pointing

you should always remember that the main idea for this approach is to find the Root cause in order to ensure what will be the preventable actions. doesn't matter if it is human error or not. Finger pointing will not only crush team's moral but also will create a way bigger problem.

Why in groups

If the problem that is looked on is bigger and involves more people, you can always split them into mini groups in order for them to find their Why. This will provide even richer RCA .