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The 5 Whys Method

Sakichi Toyoda / Toyota Production System · 1930

"Repeatedly asking 'why' about a problem — typically five times — peels back surface symptoms to reach the actual root cause, preventing teams from implementing fixes that address symptoms while leaving the underlying issue free to resurface."

The idea

The first answer to 'why did this fail' is almost never the real cause. It's usually just the most visible symptom.

Why it works
The takeaway — recall it first
Further reading

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