No. 334 · Fixing problems · General Thinking
The 5 Whys
The first explanation for a problem is rarely the deepest, so keep asking why.
In the Almanac
“The Jefferson Memorial’s midges”, 1990s · “IMVU”, 2004–2011
Both stories in full, three ways to use it and where it misleads.
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Questions
What is The 5 Whys?
The 5 Whys is a root-cause technique. When something goes wrong, ask why it happened, then ask why about that answer, and keep going roughly five times. The aim is to get past symptoms to a cause you can actually change.
How do you use The 5 Whys?
Use it for problems that keep coming back, at work, at home or in your health. Make a proportional fix at each level you uncover. Remember that some problems have several causes, and focus on fixing processes rather than blaming people.
When does The 5 Whys matter?
The 5 Whys is one of the 40 mental models for fixing problems, the situations where you ask: Why does this keep going wrong, and how do I fix it for good? Within that, it belongs to “Finding the real cause”, alongside Black Box, First Principles Thinking and Inversion.
What is an example of The 5 Whys?
Two stories show it at work: The Jefferson Memorial’s midges (1990s) and IMVU (2004–2011). Both are told in full in The Mental Models Daily Almanac, which has two stories for each of its 365 models.
Which mental models are related to The 5 Whys?
Post Mortem, Correlation and Causation and Counterfactual Thinking. The 5 Whys itself comes from general thinking.