The first ‘why’ gets you to the proximate cause: there wasn’t enough time to complete the work.
The second ‘why’ uncovers what led to the proximate cause: Sally was expecting to get John’s portion of the work in 1 week but instead it took 2, which led to delays in her work.
The third ‘why’ unlocks yet another part of the causal chain: John received 3 deliverables from 3 different teams at the same time and in the midst of being overwhelmed he forgot to let Sally know that he needs more time.
This pattern usually continues until around the 5th ‘why’ where you get to the root of the problem — the thing that caused it all: teams are operating as silos and the lack of cross functional visibility is leading to an unsustainable rate of inbound work requests.
The difference between the 1st why and the 5th, 6th or even 7th ‘why’ is that instead of uncovering a symptom to treat again and again, you finally have enough information to solve the root of the problem and to make things better.
Credit: Work Smarter Together; sponsored by UCD Agile
jasonleow I love this method as well. Because I've not had much experience using it I often find that the answers I get from people are not 5 levels of reasons that go deeper and deeper but rather 2-3 reasons that go deeper but then the rest being reasons from a different 'stack/lane'
therealbrandonwilson I think a lot of images with transparent backgrounds assume a white background. BTW do you like the dark mode? peterdannock wrote on Writestreak that he preferred light and I have it setup so that I could allow people to switch their theme. I just haven't put in the UI for that switch
abrahamKim It's been so long, I don't remember what the original light mode looked like. I think if I had the toggle to go back and forth, I could give you a final answer. Those instructions sound very complicated, especially for a site that's supposed to only have words. 😎
Lmao I thought you weren't phased by using mouse controls and clicking though??
Yeah actually the site doesn't support images itself. williamliao has found a hack by using images that are hosted by another server and another URL lol.
w1: it's a new day, which means 1 new post about an idea that I think is useful w2: I post every day because I committed to a daily practice of writing 71 days ago w3: I committed to a daily practice because I wanted to get better at writing, create a routine that would help me clarify/reaffirm useful ideas, and prove to myself that I could show up consistently. w4: I started reading 'The Practice' by Seth Godin and was convinced that committing to a daily practice is the key to making consistent progress & achieving milestones w5: I'm reading books and thinking about progress/milestones towards desirable future states because it feels fulfilling/makes life worth living.
I want to verify the content I want to be an instigator I want to get to know William's mind more I want to find idea I resonate with I want to absorb ideas I can use
Yeah actually the site doesn't support images itself.
w1: it's a new day, which means 1 new post about an idea that I think is useful
w2: I post every day because I committed to a daily practice of writing 71 days ago
w3: I committed to a daily practice because I wanted to get better at writing, create a routine that would help me clarify/reaffirm useful ideas, and prove to myself that I could show up consistently.
w4: I started reading 'The Practice' by Seth Godin and was convinced that committing to a daily practice is the key to making consistent progress & achieving milestones
w5: I'm reading books and thinking about progress/milestones towards desirable future states because it feels fulfilling/makes life worth living.
I want to be an instigator
I want to get to know William's mind more
I want to find idea I resonate with
I want to absorb ideas I can use