Unpredicted difficulties may happen in any company or process. However, obstacles are just signs of more difficult subjects. Fixing a problem immediately may be a suitable answer. However, it doesn’t defend your work method from recurring errors. This is where root cause analysis comes into the picture. Your team and you need to concentrate on getting the root cause of the problem and stop it properly. In this article, let us explore the 5 WHYs Root Cause Analysis technique.
The 5 WHYs root cause analysis technique is the entirety of the several effective means for root cause analysis in the Lean management stockpile. Every company faces roadblocks in its everyday work. However, practicing the 5 WHYs will assist you in finding the root cause of any difficulty and shielding the process from repeating mistakes and failures.
Origin of 5 WHYs
The 5 WHYs root cause analysis technique is a division of the Toyota Production System. Developed by Sakichi Toyoda, a Japanese creator and owner, the method became an essential component of the Lean philosophy.
One of the important parts of the prosperous implementation of the system is to make a notified judgment. This indicates that the decision-making process should be based on an insightful knowledge of what is actually occurring on the practice ground.
In different terms, the root cause analysis method should involve somebody with practical knowledge. Reasonably, they can provide you with the most important information regarding any query that arises in their area of expertise.
5 WHYs Analysis in Action
When utilizing the 5 WHYs technique, you need to get to the bottom of the problem and then solve it. The 5 WHYs may disclose to you that the cause of the problem is entirely surprising.
Often, matters that are regarded as an external problem actually turn out to be an internal or process-related problem. This is why detecting and reducing the root cause is essential if you want to evade the iteration of failures.
Here’s an example of how the 5 WHYs root cause analysis techniques can help you get to the root of the problem and solve it once and for all.
Problem – We didn’t send the newsletter for the freshest software updates on time.
- What was the reason for not sending a newsletter on time? Because Updates were not performed until the deadline.
- Why were the updates not completed on the given time? Because the developers were working on the latest innovations.
- Why were the developers still operating on the latest innovations? Because one of the fresh developers didn’t know the plans.
- Why was the new developer unknown with all systems? Because they were not trained correctly.
- Why were they not trained optimally? Because CTO thinks that new workers don’t need careful training and they should study while operating.
You can see that the root cause of the original difficulty turned out to be something totally separate from most maximum expectations.
Moreover, it is not a technological but a process obstacle. This is typical because we usually focus on the product section of the problem as we ignore the human factor.
Hence, the 5 WHYs analysis has the desire to investigate a particular dilemma in intensity until it bestows you the actual cause.
Have in the brain that “5” is just a number. Ask “Why” as several times as you need in order to develop the method and take appropriate steps.
How to Get Started With The 5 WHYs?
The 5 WHYs Root Cause Analysis method may assist you in delivering continuous change at any level of your business. Here are some basic measures you need to understand.
Create a Team
Try to construct a team of people from various fields. Each agent has to be familiar with the method that needs to be investigated. By creating a cross-functional team, you are enabled to get unique points of representation. This will assist you in collecting sufficient information to make a notified choice. Be informed that this is not an uncommon task, and it needs to be performed by the team.
Describe the Problem
Explain the problem to the team and get a cleared query report. It will support you to determine the range of the problem you are going to study. This is necessary because studying a huge scope problem may be a time-consuming task with blurred edges. Try to be as focused as possible in order to find an adequate answer in the end.
Start Asking Why
Allow one person to promote the entire method. This team manager will investigate the questions and try to hold the team centred. The results should be based on experiences and actual data, rather than on emotional opinions.
The facilitator must ask “Why” several times as required until the team can recognize the root cause of the original problem.
Advice 1. Don’t demand too many Whys. If you keep on going, you may end up getting tons of baseless suggestions and criticisms, which is not the goal. Concentrate on getting the root cause.
Advice 2. Sometimes there could be more than one root cause. In these cases, the 5 WHYs review will seem more like a model with different parts. This may also help you identify and reduce organizational problems that have substantial adverse effects on the overall appearance.
Take Action
After the team identifies the root causes, it is time to take remedial steps. All members should be included in a study in order to discover and implement the best resolution that will preserve your method from recurring difficulties. When the choice is made, one of the team members should be able to perform the right procedures and observe the whole plan.
After a definite period of time, the team is required to be reassessed again and verify if their actions had a positive impact. If not, the process should be reformed. In the end, the state should be documented and conducted across the company. Sharing this data will give an insightful overview of various kinds of problems a company may face and how those obstacles can be eliminated.
In Summary
The 5 WHYs technique is an easy and powerful tool for solving queries. Its primary goal is to find the specific reason that causes a given problem by examining a sequence of “Why” questions.
- The 5 WHYs root cause analysis method corrects your team’s focus on finding the root cause of any difficulty.
- It helps each team member to share plans for constant improvement, rather than criticizing others.
- It provides your team with the confidence that it can eliminate any problem and prevent the process from recurring failures.
To learn more about root cause analysis and how to build a process, or more importantly, a company that functions of an effective system, individuals and enterprise teams should get trained in widely-recognized Six Sigma Certifications and Quality Management Courses.
Some of the popular quality management courses that individuals and enterprise teams can take up are:
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification Training
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Online
