Root Cause Failure Analysis

It is probably better be known as 5why analysis. Basic tool for solving very basic problem yet I notice that we are not using correctly. Why 5whys? The answer is most of the time we can reach the root cause to the problem at the 5th why. Well... my personal experience is that I rarely arrive at the 5th to see the root causes, I mean either before or later. OK, that is not really a big deal!

Back to my statement "not quite correctly use". My point here is, the key is not really asking "why". For me the most impotance is how you are able to come to the question "why"! Sound confusing, I guess. But seriously, I found the trick is not go straight to the "why". Life would be easier to ask "why" five times and get to the root cause. BUT it is not! 5whys is a very basic tool but it is not so simple. I try to attach here a presentation I use for the training but believe 5whys skill can not just train in the classroom. However, it is part of skill development we must provide some theory on it. I hope I will be able to attach some examples very soon!

Root Causes Failure Analysis

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The link below could lead you to pratical example of simple 5whys analysis. 

Problem: "Alarm clock did not work"

You can always try to test you ability in performing this simple problem of "alarm clock did not work". What you can do is to rearrange the "causes" into a real 5whys table. Special thanks to my colleague, Catherine, for her contribution to this exercise. Wish to compare your result with ours? Just send it back what you think should be the logic and we will send back ours.