People who have a tendency to make data driven decisions have a vulnerability. That vulnerability is analysis paralysis. All decisions have time constraints. Some decisions have more time constraints than others. Attention of the decision maker is scarce and this is one of the insights from the attention based view of the firm. The attention based view of the firm recognizes that the most scarce resource in a firm is the attention. This in some ways is an interesting intercourse with the resource based view of the firm. Root cause analysis is a method of actually defining a problem which is key to searching for a solution effectively.
The five whys is one method of applying root cause analysis.
5 Whys is an iterative interrogative technique used to explore the cause-and-effect relationships underlying a particular problem.[1] The primary goal of the technique is to determine the root cause of a defect or problem by repeating the question "Why?" Each answer forms the basis of the next question. The "5" in the name derives from an anecdotal observation on the number of iterations needed to resolve the problem.
Not all problems have a single root cause. If one wishes to uncover multiple root causes, the method must be repeated asking a different sequence of questions each time.
Mann, D. (2002). Analysis paralysis: When root cause analysis isn’t the way. The TRIZ Journal, 5.
Ocasio, W. (1997). Towards an attention-based view of the firm. Strategic management journal, 187-206.
