Using 5 Whys technique for Business Analysis

Business analysis is the art of identifying business needs and bringing out solutions to business problems. There are a number of techniques used by Business Analysts (BA’s) in order to identify the business requirements or what the exact business problem is.

The 5 Whys technique is used more like a root cause analysis technique. The technique involves asking questions iteratively in order to identify the cause-and-effect relationships related to a particular problem. The method requires you to identify the cause and effect failure path of an event by questioning each of the causes identified sequentially. ‘Why’ is asked to find each foregoing cause until we arrive at the apparent root cause of the problem. However, this method has its one major con; that wrong conclusions can be easily derived which will result in a wrong final cause and effect path. A common mistake which happens is one tends to stop too soon in the iterative questioning process. People often stop with the first or second simple answer and settle for it which is almost never the actual root cause. And the problem can be effectively solved by taking actions against the actual root cause. The "five" in 5 Whys is not standard, but generally five iterations are sufficient to get to a root cause. The key is that it persuades the business analyst to avoid assumptions and trace the chain of cause and effects to a root cause that is closest to the original problem.

Benefits of the 5 Whys:

1. It helps to quickly identify the root cause of a problem.
2. It helps determine the relationship between different root causes of a problem.
3. It can be learned quickly and doesn't require statistical analysis to be used.

How to use 5 Why’s Techniques:

Problem Statement: The coffee machine in your house is not working.

1. Why did the coffee machine stop working?
    - Because it ran out of milk powder.
     
2. Why did it run out of milk powder?
    - Because I didn’t buy any milk powder on my way back home.
3. Why didn’t you buy any milk powder this morning?
    - Because I didn’t have any money.
4. Why didn’t you have any money?
   - Because I lost forgot to carry my wallet and cards.
5. Why did you forget to carry your wallet and cards? 
   - Because I did not pack my bag the previous night and was in a hurry next morning.

A key phrase to keep in mind in any 5 why exercise is that "people do not fail, processes do". The real root cause should point toward a process that is not working well or does not exist. Untrained facilitators will often observe that answers seem to point towards classical answers such as not enough time, not enough investments, or not enough manpower. These answers may sometimes be true but in most cases they lead to answers out of our control. So the best solution is to question why did the process fail?

So it’s rightly said “Each one of us should strive for constant and never ending improvement.”

About Author:

Shweta Samudra is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, she actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. She can be contacted at: shweta.samudra@spluspl.com