Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Olivier Serrat
2011
The views expressed in this presentation are the views of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank, or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this presentation and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this presentation do not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.
Why is that?
Note: If the last answer is something you cannot control, go back to the previous response.
Caveat
The Five Whys technique has been criticized as too basic a tool to analyze root causes to the depth required to ensure that the causes are fixed. The reasons for this criticism include: The tendency of investigators to stop at symptoms, and not proceed to lower-level root causes. The inability of investigators to cast their minds beyond current information and knowledge. Lack of facilitation and support to help investigators ask the right questions. The low repeat rate of results: different teams using the Five Whys technique have been known to come up with different causes for the same problem.
Caveat
?
Clearly, the Five Whys technique will suffer if it is applied through deduction only. The process articulated earlier encourages on-the-spot verification of answers to the current "why" question before proceeding to the next, and should help answer criticism as to the usefulness of the technique.
Further Reading
ADB. 2008. The Reframing Matrix. Manila. Available: www.adb.org/publications/reframing-matrix ADB. 2009. The Five Whys Technique. Available: www.adb.org/publications/five-whys-technique ADB. 2009. The SCAMPER Technique. Manila. Available: www.adb.org/publications/scamper-technique ADB. 2009. Wearing Six Thinking Hats. Available: www.adb.org/publications/wearing-six-thinking-hats ADB. 2009. Asking Effective Questions. Manila. Available: www.adb.org/publications/asking-effective-questions ADB. 2011. Critical Thinking. Manila. Available: www.adb.org/publications/critical-thinking
Olivier Serrat
Principal Knowledge Management Specialist Knowledge Management Center Regional and Sustainable Development Department Asian Development Bank
knowledge@adb.org www.adb.org/knowledge-management www.facebook.com/adbknowledgesolutions www.scribd.com/knowledge_solutions www.twitter.com/adbknowledge