Ask “why?” until you hit the root
The first answer is almost never the real problem. Dig.
Examples for:
The first answer is rarely the real problem.
Toyota, the car company, made this trick famous: when something goes wrong, ask “why?” and then ask it again about the answer. Around the fifth “why”, you usually reach the root: the thing that, if fixed, stops the problem from coming back.
Try it
Watch the chain go deeper
!
WHAT WE SEE
Drains in our lane overflow every monsoon.
Rules for a good why-chain
- Each answer should be about the answer just above it, not jump somewhere else.
- If you hear “because people are lazy” or “because nobody cares”, go deeper. That’s blame, not a reason.
- Check your whys with real people at the next stop. You might be wrong, and that’s great news.
- 3 whys is the minimum for your application. 5 is better.
Try it
Your turn: dig into your problem
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5
Practice only, nothing is saved. If an answer is “people are lazy”, dig deeper: that’s blame, not a reason.
For your application, you’ll need:
- At least 3 “whys”, each one going deeper
- The root problem in one line