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The 5 Whys Technique

Ask "Why?" repeatedly to move from symptoms to root causes. Five is a guideline, not a rule—stop when you reach something actionable and within control.

Facilitation Approach

Start with a clear problem statement. Each "why" should probe deeper: if the answer feels like a symptom (something that happened as a result), ask why that happened. If the answer feels like a cause (something that could be addressed to prevent recurrence), you may be at or near the root.

Don't accept vague answers. "Communication breakdown" is a symptom—why did communication break down? "No shared channel for updates" is more actionable. Push for specificity.

When an answer suggests multiple causes, branch the analysis. A single problem can have several root causes worth exploring. Track branches explicitly.

Recognizing Root Causes vs Symptoms

Root causes are actionable, within reasonable control, and explain the chain above them. Symptoms describe what happened; causes explain why.

Symptom Root Cause
"The deploy failed" "No staging environment to catch the bug"
"The customer churned" "Onboarding didn't address their core use case"
"We missed the deadline" "Scope wasn't locked before engineering started"
"They made an error" "The process has no validation step"

Avoid stopping at blame ("John made a mistake"). Ask why the system allowed that mistake. People fail; good systems catch failures.

When to Stop

Stop when you reach a cause that is: (1) actionable—you can do something about it, (2) within control—you have authority or influence, (3) foundational—fixing it would prevent the chain above. Sometimes you'll hit causes outside your control (market conditions, regulations). Acknowledge these and focus recommendations on what you can change.

Handling Branches

Real problems often have multiple contributing causes. When an answer reveals two distinct threads, explore both:

Why did the release break production?
├── Why was the bug not caught? → No integration tests for that module
└── Why was rollback slow? → No automated rollback procedure

Document all significant branches in the final analysis.

Output Format

# 5 Whys Analysis: [Problem Statement]

## Problem
[Clear, specific statement of what went wrong or what you're investigating]

## Analysis Chain

### Primary Chain
1. **Why [problem/previous answer]?**
   [Answer 1]

2. **Why [answer 1]?**
   [Answer 2]

3. **Why [answer 2]?**
   [Answer 3]

4. **Why [answer 3]?**
   [Answer 4]

5. **Why [answer 4]?**
   → Root cause: [Answer 5]

### Branch: [Branch Name] (if applicable)
[Additional chain exploring alternate cause]

## Root Cause Summary
[Concise statement of the root cause(s) identified]

## Recommended Actions
1. [Specific, actionable step to address root cause]
2. [Additional action if multiple root causes]