Fire the “5-Whys”
I played with many titles for this post. Among them “Confessions from a Quality Manager: I hate the 5-Whys” and “Why I hate 5-Whys”, “The 5 Whys: Crappiest Root Cause Analysis Tool”.
As a Certified Manger of Quality and Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE) or over a decade, I am ALL ABOUT root cause analysis. Root cause analysis is conducted to identify all the contributing sources of an issue and implement strategies to prevent recurrence. There are a lot of different techniques: fishbone diagram, 8D, Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA), The 5-Whys... With the "5-Why's" you start with one why and follow up with subsequent whys to the preceding answers and repeat until you have asked why five times or the causes have been exhausted.
Text Source: Merriam Webster
The allure of the 5-Why method is in its simplicity. It's easy to get someone with no root cause analysis experience up and running with minimal training. Think of it akin to the (sometimes annoying) process of a young child might deploy when they respond to each of your answers with "why… why… why?"
When you were a kid, after a mistake or poor judgement choice, did your parents ever ask you, "Why did you do that?" Bleh, it makes me feel all icky. There is a lot of emotion when you ask someone "why did you do that” or "why did that happen"…
"Why" has an accusatory tone!
“Quality” can have a bad rap in certain organizations because they may be the special forces squad that shows up to help resolve an issue. And if "why" gets thrown around, even when done respectfully and professionally, it can put people at odds regardless of it’s source. For the same reasons that when brainstorming, you want to consider all ideas regardless of practicality, it gets the juices flowing before providing feedback.
How do you get to the bottom of things without a "why"?
"Why" is easy. It's a simple open ended question. Though "so are “what" and "how" evoke and they evoke more curiosity. Here are some other ideas for taking "why" out of your vocabulary and other variations to encourage greater participation by your audience with more open ended questions
Instead of this —> Try instead
Why do you think that? —> What contributes to your point of view?
Why did that happen? —> How did this come about?
Anything else? —> What else?
Anyone have questions? —>What questions do you have?
It’s a simple shift you can make today!
