When children begin to talk, one of the first things they continually ask is: “Why?”

And when you give them an answer, their response is: “Why?”

There seems no end to the number of times they can ask: “Why?”

It’s annoying, so we learn to stop doing this as we grow up.

But there’s something very useful in this simple enquiry.

Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota, developed ‘The Five Whys’ system, which became a core part of the production system to find the root cause of manufacturing and quality problems.

The real strength of this method is that it doesn’t just provide knee-jerk solutions to short term symptoms, it identifies the root cause.

An example of how it works is the Jefferson Memorial, it began to deteriorate and the National Parks Service decided to use The Five Whys:

Q) “Why has the memorial begun to deteriorate?”

A) Because of the harsh, cleansing chemicals.

Q) “Why does the memorial need to be cleaned so often?”

A) Because it gets covered in bird droppings.

Q) “Why are there so many bird droppings?”

A) Because birds are attracted to it.

Q) “Why are the birds attracted to it?”

Because lots of insects swarm around it.

Q)“Why do so many insects swarm around it?”

A) Because the floodlights attract them.

So the root cause of the problem was the floodlights attracting insects at dusk, the time when the insects come out to mate.

So they switched the lights on half-hour later, after dusk, when the insects had dispersed.

They got an immediate 85% decrease in bird droppings.

No insects – no birds.

No birds – no bird droppings.

No bird droppings – no harsh cleaning fluids.

No cleaning – no erosion.

And the correct answer only turned up by continually asking “Why?”

Asking why won’t give you the right answer, but it will make sure you identify the right problem to work on.

We could use the simplicity, the discipline and clarity of The Five Whys in our job.

At present we jump straight to conclusions and miss out the gradual, logical process.

We would rather be wrong faster than right more slowly.

Because we see answers as strength and questions as weakness.

It’s the strategists’ job to identify the correct problem, the root cause, then hand that brief over to the creative dept.

Not just knee-jerk into ‘brand insight’ – the same strategy as every other strategist.

Using the 5 Whys forces strategists to think of effective solutions rather than just copying the current trend.

As Albert Einstein said:

“If I had an hour to solve a problem I would spend 55 minutes on the problem and 5 minutes on the solution.”

Because if you identify the problem correctly the solution will be simple and effective.

But if you identify the problem wrongly no solution can work.

The post WRONG PROBLEM = WRONG SOLUTION first appeared on Dave Trott's Blog.