The 5 Whys of Root Cause Analysis
By Daniel Miessler on November 26th, 2009: Tagged as Business
“The 5 Whys” is a technique of fining the real cause of a problem. It works like this.
My car will not start. (the problem)
- Why? – The battery is dead. (first why)
- Why? – The alternator is not functioning. (second why)
- Why? – The alternator belt has broken. (third why)
- Why? – The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and has never been replaced. (fourth why)
- Why? – I have not been maintaining my car according to the recommended service schedule. (fifth why, a root cause)
From Wikipedia and blog.inklingmarkets.com.
