The 5 Whys for Troubleshooting

It is common to live with some problems in our daily lives, isn't it? In business routine, this would be no different. It is natural to notice mistakes in our organizations and thus to focus on resolving them.

But when the problem reappears often, we need to think about the rework in termos of time and money. It is common for us to begin to wonder why these failures reappear, and at this point we can no longer look at them as spontaneous, after all, they happen for some reason..

How do problems occur in your company?

The practice of analyzing why mistakes occur is essential to understanding how to solve them. Most companies act only on the effects of error, but do not worry or try to understand the need for a routine analysis inserted within their organizational cultures.

That is, understanding the root cause of problems within an enterprise environment helps them actually solve the problems effectively. So instead of simply generating a palliative solution or healing a symptom, the nonconformity can actually be solved. Consequently, you prevent the problem from appearing more often.

To better understand how to implement this routine, I want to introduce you to the 5 Whys method - this is one of the tools that can assist you in analyzing the root cause of the problems in your company!

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The Five Whys

The Five Whys tool consists of asking five times 'Why?': You will begin by asking the reason for the problem in question to happen and then continue to ask 'why', always relating it to the previous answer. In this way, instead of perceiving and treating the reflexes of your problem, you will be able to determine its real root cause.

The '5 whys' technique effectively assists in structuring solutions to the most complex failures. Using this method can boost your organization's results, while reducing rework and increasing proficiency in the treatment of anomalies. Its implementation and application is simple, fast and highly efficient.

'The 5 Whys' was written by Taiichi Ohno, father of the Toyota Production System. For him, nothing prevents someone from asking more - or less - than 5 questions. This number came from his observation because it used to be enough to get to the root cause.

Taiichi Ohno defined some perceived steps in applying the 'Whys': you determine what happened then why it happened and finally find out what can be done to reduce the chances of it happening again.

Generally, when we are asked about the reason for a problem, we often blame something or someone, rather than reflect and actually look for its cause. This technique comes precisely to change this logic, transforming the way we handle failures.

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