Find the root cause

We have two techniques for you that you can combine when finding the root causes of a barrier, blockage, or problem: the Ishikawa fishbone and the 5 Whys.

Exercise:

• Start with a problem statement.

• Investigate the root causes of this problem using the Ishikawa fishbone or fishbone diagram. This is a cause-effect diagram that analyzes possible causes based on predefined categories. These categories are, for example: People, Resources, Management, Processes, Technology, Governance. But you can also choose other categories.

• For each category, brainstorm what could be the possible causes of the problem in that category. For example, if not delivering fast enough is the problem, the People category might mention: insufficiently qualified team members. And in the Processes category: lack of an automated delivery process. The different categories help you look at the problem from different angles.

• For each cause, you can deepen it by asking “why” five times. The 5 Whys technique was invented by the Japanese inventor Sakichi Toyoda and is widely used in lean. The idea is to get clear what the underlying problem is by asking a why-question five times in a row. You peel away the layers of symptoms to get to the core.
  Ask why the problem occurs, avoid assumptions, and state the facts.
  Based on the answer, ask the why-question again. Do this until you get to the core and can no longer think of an answer to the why-question. It doesn’t have to be exactly five times; more or less is also fine.

• Choose the most important cause for which you will try to find solutions. Distinguish between solutions within the team’s influence and those outside it.

• Create an action plan together for the things the team can tackle themselves and agree on when you will evaluate again.

• During the evaluation, assess whether the situation has improved and what the next steps are. This way, you keep improving in short cycles.