The Five Why’s

Working in large corporations, or even small, growing corporations can be a real challenge. The system gets so large after a while, it’s impossible for any person to understand the system completely, and to know everything that is wrong. So, many companies find ways to solve problems efficiently because lots of money can be lost due to waste or mistakes introduced.

Toyota, through its founder Toyoda Sakichi, was among first to develop a framework for solving these issues with their “Five Why’s” technique. Basically the concept involves finding the root cause of a problem by asking “why why why” to each problem. Wikipedia has a nice example of this.

I thought it would be fun to try and use this to solve problems in my life too. For example, I tend to stay up too late and get tired the next day. So I started with: I’m sleepy today.

1. Why? I went to bed at 12:30 last night. (true)
2. Why? I spent 2-3 hours typing last night.¹ (true)
3. Why? I’ve been putting off some writings ideas until now despite outlining them weeks ago.
4. Why? Other things got in the way (chores, work, etc).
5. Why? They are higher priority.

Root cause: I need to manage my time better.

Ok, that wasn’t a great example, because it was too subjective, and kind of common-sense.² But it’s kind of fun to try to apply to the Five Why’s to problems around you either in the workplace or in life, and see if they can help shed light on the root cause. The problem here is that my line of reasoning above, after step 3 was too subjective. As Toyota states here:

However, Minoura emphasizes that on-the-spot observation rather than deduction is the only correct way to answer a “Why?” question. “I’m always struck that the five-why method doesn’t seem to be working as well as it should be because there’s been a lack of practical training. The reason is that they end up falling back on deduction. Yes, deduction. So when I ask them ‘Why?’ they reel off five causes as quick as a flash by deduction. Then I ask them five whys again for each of the causes they came up with. The result is that they start falling back on deduction again, and so many causes come back that you end up totally confused as to which of them is important.”

So, the Five Why’s and other such methods are really work best for situations where you can find a tangible, measurable cause. I work in a company that trains employees in related problem-solving methods like Six Sigma and Kaizen, so I know that these involve considerable training and discipline to make them work correctly in a complex environment. The benefit though, is a company or system that runs more efficiently, and in these difficult economic times, efficient companies survive just fine.³

On the personal level, I just enjoy trying to solve issues by seeing what the root cause is. Better than just trying to treat the symptoms, like drinking more coffee to stay awake. So, I think the Five Why’s is pretty cool, simple and easy to apply. Thank you Mr. Toyoda!

¹ Personal writing project of mine, among many I never finish.

² Solution: get some sleep, you idiot!

³ Given how many people are being laid off these days, I am very, very thankful to work in a company that is still doing well. I used to complain about the frugality of our operating costs, but not anymore.