CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

5 Whys: Root Cause Analysis

The business environment may be a perpetually dynamic environment and unexpected issues might occur in any organisation or process. Though having a “quick fix” for unexpected changes may be a convenient answer, however, these are simply symptoms of underlying issues, quickly fixing the issue doesn’t shield your work process from reoccurring blunders. To solve this issue, your team needs to find the root cause and effectively address it.

The 5 Whys method is one of the most efficient root cause analysis tools in Lean management, using this method will help you to discover the root cause of any roadblock you may face on a daily basis and protect your processes from reoccurring failures.

In fact, the 5 Whys may reveal an unexpected source of the issue. Oftentimes, things considered technical end up being human or process problems.

To avoid iterations of failure, it is imperative to find and eliminate the root cause.

Example of 5 Whys

Problem:

The clients are unhappy and refuse to pay the progress payment

Why 1

 – because the project was not completed in time.

Why 2

– the project took longer than expected

Why 3

– the project required more resources than we accounted for.

Why 4

– we didn’t purchase material on time

Why 5

– We didn’t review our work schedule

As you can see the root cause has been found, which came down to poor planning before engaging with the project. Once the root cause has been found and the organisation is aware of this, they can focus on training and implement steps that will allow them to ensure that proper planning is done and that projects are completed on time.