5 Whys technique is used to understand the problem in-depth and fix the exact reason why the problem occurred in the first place.

To avoid the iteration of problems, we have to eliminate the root of it.

Let's apply the 5 whys analysis and understand it.

Here is an example:

Problem: We didn’t deploy the new feature on time.

1| Why we didn’t deploy the new feature on time?

The feature was not implemented before the deadline.

2| Why the feature was not implemented before the deadline?

Because the DevOps engineer was still working on the deployment part.

3| Why the DevOps engineer was still working on the deployment part?

One of the DevOps engineers is new so didn’t know how to do it.

4| Why the DevOps engineer didn’t know how to do it?

Because he was not trained in the right way.

5| Why he was not trained in the right way?

Because the CTO believes that new employees should learn on their own while working.

So the root cause of the actual problem is something else.

The method was developed by Sakichi Toyoda

PS: 5 is just a number, you can ask as many whys as you want.

Here is the Twitter Thread: lnkd.in/evPM9iZT