I had a great feel today, when I saw a mail from one of my participant. His name is Vinod and he works for ADP India. He went through popular story. The story is well known and probably must have been retold by many in my profession. What struck me that he remembered me while reading the story. He also took effort to send me a mail to express that.
He has attended my program and workshop that involves Root Cause Analysis as one of the agenda.
It is these responses that give the satisfaction. I am repeating the story here. It is not clear if the story as narrated is true. However, instances are true. A news item on Jefferson Memorial confirms the incidence.
The story goes like this:
Some years ago, there was a big problem at one of America’s most treasured monuments — the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC. Simply put, birds — in huge numbers — were spoiling the top surface of the memorial with their droppings. This made visiting the place a very unpleasant experience. Attempts to remedy the situation caused even bigger problems, since the harsh cleaning detergents being used were damaging the memorial. Fortunately, some of the National Parks managers assigned to the case began asking WHY — as in “Why was the Jefferson Memorial so much more of a target for birds than any of the other memorials?”
A little bit of investigation revealed the following:
The birds were attracted to the Jefferson Memorial because of the abundance of spiders — a gourmet treat for birds.
The spiders were attracted to the Memorial because of the abundance of midges (insects) that were nesting there.
And the midges were attracted to the Memorial because of the light.
Midges, it turns out, like to procreate in places were the light is just so — and because the lights were turned on, at the Jefferson Memorial, one hour before dark, it created the kind of mood lighting that midges went crazy for.
So there you have it: The midges were attracted to the light. The spiders were attracted to the midges. The birds were attracted to the spiders. And the National Parks workers, though not necessarily attracted to the bird droppings, were attracted to getting paid — so they spent a lot of their time (and taxpayer money) cleaning the Memorial.
How did the situation resolve?
Very simply. After reviewing the curious chain of events that led up to the problem, the decision was made to wait until dark
before turning the lights on at the Jefferson Memorial. This answer for this came from a Japanese tourist who also suggested to change the bulb in the lights which repelled the midges.
Once they did that there were no midges, no spiders. No spiders, no birds. No birds, no bird droppings. No bird droppings, no need to clean the Jefferson Memorial so often. Case closed.
Now, consider what “solutions” might have been forthcoming if those curious National Parks managers did not stop and ask WHY:
1. Hire more workers to clean the Memorial
2. Ask existing workers to work overtime
3. Experiment with different kinds of cleaning materials
4. Put bird poison all around the memorial
5. Hire hunters to shoot the birds
6. Encase the entire Jefferson Memorial in Plexiglas
7. Move the Memorial to another part of Washington
8. Close the site to the general public
Technically speaking, each of the above “solutions” was a possible approach — but at great cost,inconvenience, and with questionable results. They were, shall we say, not exactly elegant solutions.
Now, think about YOUR job… Your company… YOUR life.
What problems are you facing that could be approached differently simply by asking WHY…. and then WHY again…and then WHY again.. until you get to the core of the issue?
If you don’t, you may just end up solving the wrong problem.
THE FIVE WHYS TECHNIQUE
1 Name a problem you’re having
2 Ask WHY it’s happening
3 Get an answer
4 Then WHY about that
5 Get an answer
6 Then ask WHY about that — and so on, five times