Five Whys

Description:

The Five Whys also named 5-whys analysis method . it is used to understand the true root cause of a problem.

Ask your self "Why?" five times, successively, you can go into a problem deeply enough to understand the ultimate root cause.

By the time you get to the 4th or 5th why, you will likely be looking squarely at management practices. This methodology is closely related to the Cause & Effect (Fishbone) diagram, and can be used to complement the analysis necessary to complete a Cause & Effect diagram.

Example:

Here is a real world example from a kitchen manufacturer:

Root Cause: Company management did not understand lean manufacturing, and did not set appropriate project targets when the plant was launched. It is almost universally true that by the time you ask why five times, it is clear that the problem had is origins in management.

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