Five Whys

Iteratively ask "Why?" until reaching a cause that is actionable, systemic, and honest.

Process

1. State the problem (specific, factual, no judgment)
2. Ask "Why did this happen?"
3. Take that answer, ask "Why?" again
4. Repeat until reaching a root cause
5. Identify what to change

Forking

When an answer contains multiple factors (look for "and", "plus", "also", or multiple clauses), fork into separate branches. Each branch gets its own chain of whys and its own change.