The Five Whys Technique: What It Consists Of And How It Is Used
There are many problem-solving techniques, all of them very useful depending on the type of issue to be resolved.
Among those that have achieved the most popularity thanks to the simplicity of their application we have the five whys technique a tool that allows us to find the root cause of a certain problem by asking questions.
Although easy to apply this technique, it requires a few steps to follow, taking into account a few tips and also assessing its drawbacks, something that we will see in the following lines. Stick around to learn more about this technique!
The five whys technique, also called why-why or ladder of whys, is a strategy widely used in problem solving that allows finding the root cause of a complex problem or that is the product of a succession of causes Its application is very simple, which is why it is so popular and used in the world of problem solving.
It is believed that the ideologue of this technique was Sakichi Toyoda, a Japanese industrialist and inventor who founded the Toyota company. Toyoda applied this tool to solve problems in automobile manufacturing. Later it would be the engineer Taiichi Ohno, also from Toyota, who would give continuity and fame to this technique, popularizing its application.
The premise of the technique is simple, so much so that we can summarize it in the following statement posed to the colleagues of these Japanese manufacturers: “observe the production workshop without preconceived ideas and with a blank mind; repeat ‘why’ five times for each issue”
Basically, it is a cause-effect analysis tool, which acts through questions. With this strategy you can analyze a problem by asking the question “why”. Having obtained the answer to that first “why”, we ask ourselves the same question again and, so on, until we find what has caused the problem we have come to solve.
Usually, A minimum of five whys is required to find the origin of the problem, which is why the technique receives this name However, despite what its name says, not asking the five whys does not mean that the tool is not being used appropriately, since the question must be asked until it is considered that the root cause of the analyzed phenomenon has been reached, three whys are enough. or seven are enough.
How to apply the technique to solve problems?
Although it is a fairly free technique, doing an analysis using the five whys technique appropriately involves taking into account some considerations.
It is necessary to involve management in the five whys process in the company. For the analysis itself, It is necessary to consider which people are appropriate to form a work group with It is also advisable to use a person who can act as a facilitator of the process, in the sense of being willing to ask questions about a given issue.
It is essential that the process of searching for the five whys is done on a sheet of paper or, even better, a whiteboard. By proxy it can be done with a computer, but it is better to do the entire analysis process with something that everyone can participate in at the same time physically. Write the problem on the board and make sure everyone understands it.
During the process, It is very important to reflect on what the real causes of the problem are and what symptoms or effects they cause, without confusing them We must not forget that a symptom is still a consequence of something, and that it is that something to which a solution must be sought. Therefore, it is essential to pay attention and follow the logic of cause and effect relationships.
We must ensure that we isolate the causes that have caused the failures, problems or inconveniences of the situation in which we find ourselves. To do this, it is a very good strategy to make the sentences that we have proposed but in reverse, using the expression “and therefore” or “and therefore”. We should try to make the questions as precise as possible.
You should never resort to blaming human factors solely and exclusively There may have been a human error, inattention on the part of a worker or any problem that was in the hands of one or more people, but the entire process must still be assessed and any problem, human or purely accidental, that may exist must be detected. This technique is not applied to find those responsible, but to learn from mistakes and prevent them from being committed again. It is necessary to foster an environment of trust and sincerity, and accusations do not help to achieve this.
The question “why?” must be asked. until the original cause of the problem is determined. That is to say, If something is found that, once solved or eliminated, prevents the error from being committed again, then the technique has been fully applied It is highly recommended to ask yourself these “why?” from a customer’s point of view rather than that of a worker.
Although the premise of this technique is simple, to understand it better we are going to present three examples that will surely make us understand in greater depth how the five whys strategy works and how useful it is.
1. Toyota case
The first example we give is one proposed by Toyota itself A machine has a malfunction.
Thus, after this analysis we can understand that the dirt in the pump due to the fact that it did not have a filter caused an overload in the fuse, which caused the machine to break down. In this specific example we can understand that every cause has its own effect so acting on the fifth why should solve the problem.
2. Personnel replacement
A customer data system seems to be outdated:
Why does the system give us outdated data? Because the analyst did not upload updated data from the previous month.
Why didn’t the analyst upload the data the previous month? Because no one taught him how to do it.
Why didn’t anyone teach him how to do it? Because nobody knows the procedure.
Why doesn’t anyone know the procedure? Because the person who did know him left, and did not explain it to the incoming worker.
Why wasn’t the procedure explained to the incoming worker? Because it was not documented, nor was the possibility foreseen that the only one who did not know it would leave without teaching it to the new one.
This problem, which at first seemed like it was just a system failure, is actually a human problem, where the parties whose responsibility it was to update the data were not aware that this was their role and no one adequately informed or taught him. There was also no protocol that would specify what to do in case the person in charge of updating the data left.
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3. Lower sales
In a company, lower sales have begun to be recorded…
Why have sales decreased? because the sellers have not reached their monthly goals.
Why haven’t salespeople reached their monthly goals? because they don’t have enough time to focus on their sales.
Why don’t they have enough time to focus on their sales? because everyday errands are not resolved quickly.
Why are everyday errands not resolved quickly? Because the company has not implemented a tool that resolves them quickly and efficiently.
In this specific case it can be seen that because the company does not have tools that allow it to solve day-to-day problems quickly, it is the workers who have to find ways to solve them.
Since many of these problems are unfamiliar or more complex than their knowledge allows, They take too much time and cognitive resources to resolve As a result we have no time to focus on sales and do less.
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Advantages of this technique
We can mention a few benefits and advantages of the five whys technique :
It allows you to quickly delve deeper into the nature of the problem through several paths.
It is a very easy technique to apply, simply asking yourself the right “whys” and finding out the cause behind each problem.
Its use promotes teamwork. Ideally, it should be applied by people who have various roles in the company.
It can be integrated with other problem-solving tools, such as Ishikawa analysis or the six thinking hats.
And as the main advantage that stands out above the others, we can mention that acts on the root cause of the problem, preventing it from recurring once it is detected understood and solved.
critics
But despite having several advantages, the five whys technique also has some drawbacks, especially because Some consider it too poor a tool to analyze the root of a problem
This opinion was expressed by Teruyuki Minoura, former managing director of global purchasing at Toyota, considering that this tool did not allow a deep enough analysis necessary to solve problems in a world as complex as engineering.
Added to this criticism, we have multiple more reasons:
Tendency of researchers to stop at the symptoms instead of going to a deeper level and seeing the root cause of the entire problem.
Inability to go beyond the researcher’s current knowledge. The researcher cannot find the causes because he does not have to have the knowledge necessary to detect them to begin with.
Lack of support to help the researcher give the correct answer to the “why” questions.
Furthermore, the results are not replicable. Proof of this is in the fact that different people using the five whys technique for the same problem can end up finding different causes
Tendency to isolate a single root cause and view it linearly, instead of considering the possibility that there are several causes that have originated the problem and as a consequence of the combination of several problems that give a multifactorial result.
