Pick of the Week - Five Whys
Key takeaways:
Go beyond symptoms: The Five Whys helps teams uncover the root cause of a problem rather than just fixing what’s visible on the surface.
Ask with purpose: Repeatedly asking ‘why?’ builds a logical chain of cause and effect that leads to actionable insight.
Keep it simple and collaborative: It’s a quick, low-cost tool that works best when teams explore issues together and base answers on evidence, not assumptions.
What is Five Whys?
Have you ever been through a project and for some reason it just didn’t work? Or maybe you’re in the middle of one and there a problems left, right and centre.
Five Whys is a very simple tool that is used to understand a undesirable outcome. It can uncover the underlying cause of a problem that’s occurred or is occurring in a project or programme. It not only uncovers glitches in the delivery but also issues with organisational or team processes.
When do you use Five Whys?
Five Whys can be used during or after a project. It can be used both to understand why a project may not be on track, or why a project has not delivered the intended outcomes. Whilst, in some cases, further in-depth analysis may be required to fully understand the cause of the undesirable outcome, the Five Whys tool can be used in the first instance to narrow down the focus.
Who should use it?
Those who are directly involved on the ‘front-line’ or ‘shop-floor’ should take part in the process. The session is often facilitated by a senior manager or leader who needs to understand the root cause of an adverse outcome to prevent it reoccurring in future. It is important that whoever facilitates remains neutral, objective and impartial. The process should be carried out in a safe space, and members of staff should be encouraged to be completely open and honest.
How should you use it?
The overall time required for the session is between 45 minutes to an hour.
Five Whys is very simple. You start with an initial statement, or description, of the problem/complaint. From this, you keep asking why, until you have a statement than can be acted upon – and in turn, a lesson that can be learned.
Here's a simple example:
Why is the project behind?
Key tasks are not being completed on time.
Why aren’t tasks being completed on time?
Team members are unclear on what they need to do.
Why are they unclear?
Tasks and responsibilities weren’t clearly defined at the start.
Why weren’t they clearly defined?
There wasn’t a detailed project plan.
Why wasn’t there a detailed plan?
We didn’t allow enough time for proper planning at the beginning.
Root cause: Insufficient upfront planning and clarity on roles.
Actionable statement: Build in time at the start of projects to agree clear roles, responsibilities, and a shared plan.
You may arrive at your ‘actionable’ statement before the five questions, or it may take a few more.
If you are unable to arrive at an actionable statement, you may not have the correct people involved in the process. All answers should be factual and witnessed by the member of the team providing the answers – members of the group can discuss their different experiences and come to a conclusive answer to each ‘why’ from these.