The five 5 Why root cause analysis slides shown below are from my 2010 Lean leadership training workshop (Module 4 of 4). They were homework assignments for workshop participants. I gave this assignment because these are important questions that Lean professionals rarely ask and have little curiosity to understand root causes and implement countermeasures.
Most people are overconfident in their abilities to do a proper 5 Whys analysis, and even less able to identify practical countermeasures. Some workshop participants stuck with it and produced very good analyses and even some good countermeasures.
Will you take on the challenge to do these 5 Whys — and redo them until you produce good analyses and practical countermeasures? Please do, and let me know your results.