The “5 Whys” is a Root Cause Analysis technique involving iterative questioning to uncover the fundamental cause of a defect in the software development phase. The 5 Whys technique is a problem-solving method that involves asking “why” five times (or as many times as needed) to drill down to the root cause of an issue. By repeatedly asking “why” in response to each answer, you can move past surface symptoms and identify the underlying cause of a problem. This technique is simple yet effective for uncovering the fundamental issues that need to be addressed.
Example:
Problem: Purchase orders in NetSuite are frequently delayed.
- Why are purchase orders in NetSuite frequently delayed? Approval of purchase orders is taking longer than expected.
- Why is the approval of purchase orders taking longer than expected? Managers are not approving the orders promptly.
- Why are managers not approving the orders promptly? They are not receiving timely notifications about pending approvals.
- Why are managers not receiving timely notifications about pending approvals? The notification settings in NetSuite are not configured correctly.
- Why are the notification settings in NetSuite not configured correctly? There was no thorough review and testing of the notification settings during the system setup.
Root Cause: There was no thorough review and testing of the notification settings during the system setup.
By using the 5 Whys technique, we uncover that the root cause of the delayed purchase orders is the improper configuration and lack of testing of the notification settings during the initial setup of NetSuite.