What is a five whys analysis template?
A five whys template is a valuable tool that aids teams in problem-solving by repeatedly asking "why" to get to the root cause of an issue. The main objective of this method is to uncover the underlying, hidden problem, rather than merely addressing the resulting smaller issues. This allows teams to solve problems at their core, leading to more practical solutions.
Who can use this template?
Five whys assessment is used widely for problem-solving across various industries and domains, leading to more effective solutions. Some common areas where five whys is commonly used are:
- Businesses can apply the five whys to find what causes business and operational challenges.
- Service teams can investigate recurring customer complaints, understand their origins, and solve them.
- Design teams can improve the overall user experience by finding the root cause of frequent UI/UX issues.
- Project management teams can use it to optimize a process, find bottlenecks, understand why they exist, and implement preventive measures.
Here's an example:
Problem
Decrease in monthly signups, happening over the past 2 months
Why?
No new leads are generated.
Why?
The budget allotted to run ads and campaigns is restricted.
Why?
The digital marketing team was completely dependent on ads, and no ads are running now.
Why?
The company has been low on funding for the last two months, so most of the budget goes into operations.
The root cause:
Corporate HQ hasn't approved branch budgets yet.
How to use this template
- Follow the different reasons for a problem by asking "why".
- Start by typing in your problem, then asking why the problem occurred.
- Ask "why?" five times for a problem, and you'll usually end up with the root cause.
- Get on a Catchup with your team to discuss how to solve the root cause.