What problem does this actually solve?

...A check question we are all familiar with from a team meeting, brainstorming, or workshop. And this is not surprising: we are naturally inclined to look at a solution quickly and embrace a solution-oriented way of working and thinking.

After all, it feels efficient: as an individual or team, you identify a problem or bottleneck and immediately come up with something to fix it. In practice, however, it turns out to be symptom control, while the actual cause is unclear and remains.

The consequence? The core of the same problem returns again and again, packaged as a new bottleneck. Lean thinking teaches us: first understand, then solve, in other words, take a step back, look at the whole picture, look for the root cause and only then start working on finding a solution to that cause.

A powerful way to do that is with the 5 Why's method (or: 5x Why).

The 5x Why method in practice, using an example

Imagine, you come home after a busy working day and feel completely exhausted. You immediately think of an obvious solution: "I'm going to rest and relax." So you sit on the sofa, turn on Netflix, or take a relaxing walk. At the time, it seems to help, but the next day you're just as tired again. With the 5x Why method, you get closer to the core, without even thinking about a solution.

Why am I tired? → Because I sleep badly.
Why do I sleep badly? → Because I go to bed too late.
Why do I go to bed too late? → Because I'm still busy with work in the evening.
Why am I still working at night? → Because I have too many meetings during the day and don't get around to all my tasks.
Why do I have so many meetings? → Because the team and I don't make clear choices and priorities.

Core cause: The problem is not simply "I am tired", but a symptom of a structural imbalance in work and prioritisation (prioritising too much on meetings and not on own tasks due to lack of choices). It turns out that the actual solution does not lie in yet another evening Netflix, but in spending work time differently and making choices in it.

Back to Lean

In an organisational context, things often go the same way. We see a bottleneck, jump to a solution and celebrate success for a while. Until the problem rears its head again. Through the "5x Why" method, we force ourselves to dig through to the root cause. There lies the key to lasting improvement.

The method is widely used in practice, but is obviously not the holy grail either. Practical case studies show that it is difficult to use for large and complex organisation-wide bottlenecks: often there are many dependencies and many more than one root cause can be identified. In addition, the outcome only depends on what one knows. The answers to the ''why questions'' are provided by an individual or team and conceived based on the knowledge the individual or team has at that moment. If you were to present the same question to several individuals or teams, there will be different outcomes as a result.

The method thus teaches us, above all, to think in cause-and-effect terms, to take a step back - and think about the cause of the problem, rather than looking directly at solutions.