Why-Why Analysis

Why-Why analysis is a means of verifying the effectiveness of countermeasures to a certain problem by repeatedly presenting the factors that caused the problem (“why”) and then presenting the factors that caused the problem (“why”). [It is one of the representative tools that make up the Toyota Production System. Why-why analysis - Wikipedia

philomyu coaching or Why-Why Analysis, “[Why? If you could change one thing about the situation in advance, what part would you change? I think it is better to ask a question like “If you could change one thing in advance, what part would you change? philomyu Or rather, if you repeat the question “Why?” five times, won’t most problems turn out to be “because mankind is stupid” or “because society is not so kind”? I think if you repeat the question “why?” five times, you will find that most problems are either “because humans are stupid” or “because society is not so kind”. For example, the reason why you overslept and were late is either “because humans are stupid” or “because society is not kind enough to tolerate such stupidity”.

At least in clean language, the coaching I learned, there is no “why” question.

There are multiple solutions to “why” for why you overslept and were late, and you must choose the “solution that is closest to solving the problem” among them. - I think it’s natural because it’s a problem-solving method, but when someone who can’t verbalize it to someone who doesn’t think it’s natural teaches it, it becomes a sterile situation.

shibu_jp It is definitely the “Why Why Analysis” that has made the “Why” so aggressive. The original Toyota’s is supposedly designed not to do so, but if you keep saying “why?” five times, it usually comes back to you at the end personal responsibility. If you keep saying “Why?” five times, it usually comes down to personal responsibility in the end. [Although widely spread along with the QC method, the “token why-why analysis” is a weapon that can effectively destroy people’s psyche.

s5ml Why is the analysis so different between Toyota and others? Maybe Toyota has a sense of “we have to correct the ‘mechanism’ that causes the problem” in the higher ups. So, even if the discussion goes to personal responsibility, “Can those measures prevent a recurrence, no matter who works on them in the future?” and then steer the ship back in the right direction.

i_kaseki I have seen several examples of why-why analysis and “how many times we dug deeper” as an evaluation axis that “passed by” the system causes and attributed them to people problems. - Incorrect KPI setting

• For example, let’s say you’ve thought about why three times and you’ve come up with an idea that might solve the problem, should you do the “why” two more times?
  • Of course you don’t have to do it, the goal is to solve the problem. We should run the idea and observe if it solves the problem.
    • I am in this position.
  • It should be repeated five times, that’s what the text says.”
    • I think it’s Ritualization of methods.

---

This page is auto-translated from /nishio/なぜなぜ分析 using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I’m very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.