5 Whys & Root Cause Analysis

Core: Visible problems are symptoms. The root cause is the systemic condition that makes the symptom inevitable. Fix the symptom and it returns. Fix the root cause and the symptom (plus related ones) disappears.

The 5 Whys Method

State the problem. Ask "why?" Keep asking until you reach a cause that is actionable, systemic, and has no further "why" behind it.

Problem: [Specific statement]
  Why 1: [Immediate cause]
    Why 2: [Cause of the cause]
      Why 3: [Deeper cause]
        Why 4: [Systemic cause]
          Why 5: [Root cause]