Discover · 5 Whys
Stop fixing
the symptom.
Find the cause.
Your team traces a problem back to its root — one why at a time. The branching tree of causes makes it clear where the leverage actually is.
The Session
One problem. One tree. One place to act.
A 5 Whys session turns a visible symptom into a shared understanding of what's actually causing it — and where the team has the leverage to intervene.
State the problem
The session starts with a single problem statement — the symptom the team keeps hitting. Everyone can see it. Nothing else is assumed.
Branch the whys
Participants ask why the problem is true and add answers. Each answer can branch further. Different branches surface different causes — the tree grows until the team runs out of reasons.
Mark the root
When a branch bottoms out — no more underlying causes — the facilitator marks it as a root cause. A session can have more than one. Each one is a different thread in the same problem.
Choose where to act
The team marks the action level — the deepest point where they have leverage. Root cause and action level both carry forward to How Might We, ready to be reframed into opportunities.
The Structure
Three things. One session.
Every 5 Whys session produces the same three artefacts. Together, they tell the team not just what's wrong but where to point the solution.
The problem
What keeps happening.
The session starts with the visible symptom — the thing the team keeps patching. Naming it clearly is the first act of diagnosis. Everything else grows from it.
The tree
Why it keeps happening.
Each answer branches into another why. Different branches surface different causes. The tree keeps growing until the team reaches something that has no further cause — or no further knowledge.
The action level
Where the team can act.
The root cause isn't always reachable. The action level is the deepest point where the team has real leverage — the place to aim the solution. Naming it honestly is more useful than pretending the root is always fixable.
Session Output
A map of
the cause.
Not just the fix.
Export the full cause tree — problem, branches, root causes, action level — ready to carry into How Might We.
The artifact captures every branch the team traced, with root causes marked and the action level identified. Nothing collapses into a single answer — the whole tree is visible so the team can decide together where to focus.
The action level travels into the How Might We session as the starting point for reframing — already written, already agreed on.
5 Whys Export
Problem
Support tickets spike every time we ship a feature.
Cause tree
→ Users don't know what changed
🎯 → No release notes process exists act here
★ No dedicated comms role in the team no near-term path
For Every Role
The conversation that stops the team arguing about fixes.
5 Whys works because it separates diagnosis from solution. The team has to agree on the cause before anyone proposes the answer.
Facilitator
A structured format that keeps the team on the why — not the how. The branching tree makes disagreements visible without making them personal. You end the session with a shared map of the cause, not a disputed list of fixes.
Contributor
A way to surface what you know without having to argue for it. Add a branch. Name a cause. The tree holds everything — your contribution stands alongside others, not against them.
Decision-Maker
A clean export that shows not just what the root cause is, but where the team has the leverage to act. Use the action level to scope the solution — and carry it straight into the next session.