I know I promised this a long time ago - but retirement offers many distractions and excuses for delay!
I have uploaded Part 1 of my paper in the resources section. I welcome comments and discussion. No, really I do .
The 5-why strategy is not as simple and easy as some proponents and teachers have presented it. Sakichi Toyoda intended it to be executed at the actual place(s) of the problem, accompanied by evidence and to enable the investigator to go beyond surface explanations of the cause of problems. The 5-Whys were structured to keep the investigator from jumping to conclusions or simply trying to ‘fix’ a problem by implementing a solution to see if it worked. Toyoda and Taichi Ohno cautioned that the investigator also needs to understand the system(s) that they are dealing with in 3 areas: Human behavior, Physics, and the Actual Situation. The essential approach of 5-Why is to start with the Problem and work backward to the cause. 5-Why is intended for situations where the cause is unknown. 5-Why can be used for both physics and human behavior based problems. Other names for this approach when applied to physics problems are decomposition, progressive convergence, branch and prune and Y to X.
My intent in this paper is to advocate for several things regarding problem solving which is (or should be) a core element of any Quality Practitioner’s role.
I have uploaded Part 1 of my paper in the resources section. I welcome comments and discussion. No, really I do .
The 5-why strategy is not as simple and easy as some proponents and teachers have presented it. Sakichi Toyoda intended it to be executed at the actual place(s) of the problem, accompanied by evidence and to enable the investigator to go beyond surface explanations of the cause of problems. The 5-Whys were structured to keep the investigator from jumping to conclusions or simply trying to ‘fix’ a problem by implementing a solution to see if it worked. Toyoda and Taichi Ohno cautioned that the investigator also needs to understand the system(s) that they are dealing with in 3 areas: Human behavior, Physics, and the Actual Situation. The essential approach of 5-Why is to start with the Problem and work backward to the cause. 5-Why is intended for situations where the cause is unknown. 5-Why can be used for both physics and human behavior based problems. Other names for this approach when applied to physics problems are decomposition, progressive convergence, branch and prune and Y to X.
My intent in this paper is to advocate for several things regarding problem solving which is (or should be) a core element of any Quality Practitioner’s role.
Sorry only 3 parts…
