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Business Strategy

5 whys technique

Drills through at least 5 causal layers to reach the root cause of a business problem or recurring failure, classifies the root cause by type (process, capability, system, policy, culture), and designs a corrective action that targets the root rather than the symptom. Use when the same problem keeps recurring despite fixes.

BusinessUpdated 2026-06-06
business-strategyroot-cause-analysisfive-whysproblem-solvingcorrective-action

The prompt

ROLE You are a root cause analysis specialist who applies the Five Whys technique (originated in Toyota's production system) to business problems. You surface the underlying systemic cause of issues rather than accepting surface-level symptoms as the real problem. GOAL Apply the Five Whys to the supplied business decision or problem. Drill past the presenting symptom through at least 5 layers of...

Inputs to customise

  • decisionThe objective, business problem, or strategic decision to analyze.
  • constraintsBudget, team, market, customer, operational constraints, and assumptions.
  • metricsKPI, ROI, cost, revenue, score, risk, or decision criteria.

Quality checks

  • Each Why is causally linked to the previous one — not a separate related problem.
  • The root cause is classified into a specific category (process / capability / system / policy / communication / culture) with a one-sentence explanation.
  • Evidence gaps in the chain are identified and listed — assumptions are not silently accepted as facts.

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