Run a 5 Whys root cause analysis
The first "why" almost always lands on a symptom — the real cause is usually two or three levels deeper.
- Use it for
- Anyone with a recurring problem who wants to find the actual systemic cause, not just the immediate trigger.
Asking "why did this happen" once tends to surface the immediate trigger, which is real but usually just a symptom of something underneath — fixing only the trigger means the same failure recurs in a slightly different form later. The 5 Whys technique keeps asking why at each answer, pushing past the first plausible explanation to the actual systemic cause worth fixing.
When not to use this
For a problem with an obviously simple, one-level cause (a typo, a forgotten step), this technique adds ceremony without adding insight — it's for a recurring or systemic problem worth digging into.
Did this work?
You reach a systemic cause that, if fixed, would actually prevent recurrence — not a proximate trigger that would just happen again under slightly different circumstances.
Tested on claude-opus-5. Evidence status is draft; it moves to battle-tested only on recorded runs, never by hand.