What is Root Cause Analysis and How Can it Help Your Business?
Have you ever dealt with recurring problems in your business or life that seem impossible to solve? You fix one issue just to have another pop up, playing an endless game of whack-a-mole. What if there was a way to get to the bottom of why these problems keep happening in the first place? This is where root cause analysis comes in.
Root cause analysis is a structured investigation that aims to identify the underlying or systemic causes of problems, issues, events or nonconformances. It’s a powerful process that can reveal the roots rather than just the symptoms of company issues, providing durable solutions.
Read on as I break down exactly what root cause analysis is, the “5 Why’s” technique, how to conduct one using a helpful template, and root cause analysis tools to assist investigation.
What is Root Cause Analysis?
Root cause analysis (RCA) is a collective term encompassing a wide range of approaches, tools, and techniques used to uncover causes of problems. The ultimate goal of root cause analysis is to find out what went wrong and why.
Here are some key things to know about root cause analysis:
- Preventative: RCA is a retrospective approach looking at past issues, but it aims to prevent future recurrence. By addressing root causes, you can develop corrective actions targeting the source of issues.
- Systemic: Root causes are the deepest underlying factors contributing to an event. RCA aims to find systemic causes rather than just proximate, superficial ones.
- Process-based: RCA relies on process thinking, considering factors that may have contributed to an outcome based on systems, procedures, inputs and flows.
- Fact-based: Root cause analysis relies on data collection and fact-based conclusions instead of assumptions. The idea is to construct an accurate problem statement before jumping to conclusions.
- Team effort: While one person may lead a RCA procedure, it requires input from various perspectives to consider the full context around the problem.
Root cause analysis is often associated with operational problems in facilities, product defects or even patient mortality in the healthcare sector. But the truth is that RCA can be leveraged to address nearly any recurring business issue or event where finding the root cause is important to prevent recurrence.
When is Root Cause Analysis Used?
Root cause analysis is broadly applicable across industries and functions. Here are some examples of when businesses commonly use structured RCA procedures:
- Product defects/quality issues – Manufacturing errors, design flaws, production line mistakes, etc.
- Safety incidents – Injuries, near misses, environmental mishaps, property damage
- Operational disruptions – System outages, supply chain interruptions, equipment downtime
- Compliance failures – Data breaches, audit failures, regulatory violations
- Poor financial performance – Missed forecasts, budget overruns, low sales
- Customer complaints – Service issues, billing errors, poor experiences
Essentially any repeat or high-impact negative events are candidates for analysis. RCA gives you a formal system to investigate not just what happened, but how and why. This prevents you from just addressing the surface issue and missing the potential bigger picture behind what’s driving recurrence.
What Are the 5 Whys of Root Cause Analysis?
One popular root cause analysis technique is called the “5 Whys” (also known as “ask 5 times why”). As its name suggests, you probe for root causes by repeatedly asking “Why?” – at least 5 times. Here’s a general overview:
Step 1: Identify the Specific Problem
Clearly define the issue you’ll focus the 5 Whys on, using fact-based problem statements.
Step 2: Ask Why it Happened
Ask why the problem occurs, writing down the answer. This typically reveals an immediate, intermediate cause.
Step 3: Ask 4 More Times
Loop back by asking why thiscause occurred, writing each answer down. Repeat this loop for at least 5 Whys.
Step 4: Reach a Root Cause
The last why should reveal a root cause to the original problem. Validate this by asking if it will address the problem if fixed.
Step 5: Implement Solutions
Develop corrective actions based on this root cause that control or prevent recurrence.
At first, this simplistic questioning technique may seem overly basic. But it works by peeling back layers of symptoms to reach underlying systemic causes. The trick is to maintain focus on the original problem statement, not get sidetracked with intermediate causes.
Here’s a 5 Whys example:
Problem: Online orders have stalled due to website outages
Why #1: The website server crashed
Why #2: There was an unexpected spike in traffic that overloaded capacity
Why #3: An email promotion was sent containing incorrect links driving excessive site redirects
Why #4: The email promotion was never quality checked before sending
Why #5: No process exists to review or test promotions before release
Root cause: Lack of review processes for promotions
This example illustrates how asking “why” recursively can get to a process breakdown. The solution might be implementing promotion review procedures versus just restarting the server.
Root Cause Analysis Templates
Documenting your root cause analysis can help facilitate structured investigation and preserve findings. Using a template also promotes consistency across RCA initiatives. Here are some sections commonly included on RCA templates:
- Problem Description – Factual problem statement or issue definition
- Background – Context around what was happening at the time
- Immediate Causes – Failure modes, proximate causes, surface issues
- Contributing Factors – Environmental conditions, process inputs
- Root Causes – Underlying deficiencies or systemic causes
- Solutions – Corrective actions or preventions based on root causes
- Recommendations – Suggested process improvements
- Conclusion – Summary of key findings and insights
Templates can take many forms like Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, or PowerPoint presentations. But the most important part is having a standard structure for consistent analysis across problems. Teams can even build templates tailored to different scenarios like safety incidents, product issues, customer complaints, and more.
Helpful Root Cause Analysis Tools
Root cause analysis relies on gathering data and input from different perspectives. Certain tools can help facilitate the investigative process:
5 Whys Worksheets
5 Whys worksheets walk teams through recursive why questioning. They include sections for each why/answer iteration and documenting the problem statement, root cause and solutions.
Fishbone Diagrams
These visual diagrams graphically depict causal relationships, with the problem at the “head” and core causes feeding into it like “bones”.
Timeline Analysis
Constructing detailed timelines of events leading up to issues can reveal correlations like action/effect relationships.
Pareto Charts
This statistical chart highlights the most frequent reasons for problems, helping separate critical vs. trivial factors.
Scatter Diagrams
These graphs can identify correlations between problem patterns and associated variables.
Surveys
Anonymous surveys collect observations from front-line teams involved with the issue being analyzed.
The right root cause analysis tools depend on the problem context, data availability and team skillsets. The goal is to thoroughly gather the information needed to shed light on each specific issue’s root causes.
Bringing it All Together
Here are some key tips to maximize the value of your root cause analysis efforts:
- Maintain focus on identifying true root causes – not just proximate issues
- Involve different team perspectives – front-line insights are invaluable
- Base conclusions on factual data – avoid assumptions or guessing
- Follow a consistent RCA methodology – use templates to standardize
- Implement solutions that specifically address root causes
- Continue monitoring key metrics to gauge solution efficacy
Finding effective solutions to business problems is a complex challenge. But root cause analysis provides a structured approach to uncover the origins of issues so they can be fixed once and for all. Start leveraging RCA to start targeting the roots, not just the symptoms, of your organization’s most pressing problems.
