Why Ask Why? — Quotidian — 031

(Transcript of video originally posted on 31st Jan 2021)

Namaste!

Everyone would have seen this Tom and Jerry sequence! It has read some books and seems to be very happy. Jerry also comes along to see but Tom hides it away, saying it is exclusive “for its eyes only!”. It refuses to show it. We think that’s a good trap, and that’s when we realise “Curiosity”. In fact, the word “curiosity” itself immediately brings the second half, “Curiosity Kills The Cat”. But is that really so? Shouldn’t we have the curiosity to know?

Dr. Isidor Isaac Rabi is a Nobel Laureate. In fact, what we call MRI was invented by him. Many businessmen, farmers, entrepreneurs have risen out of Brooklyn, but not a scientist, though. So, a news journalist had gone to him and asked, “How did you become a scientist when everybody around you ended up as a businessman and other normal, boring professions?” He replied quite laconically, “That’s all because of my mom! The life lessons she taught me as a young kid. This is how it happened. When I used to return from school, all those who came along with me, thier mothers and fathers would ask — Did you study well? Did you answer well? Did you get good marks? — Those were the questions THEY asked. And, the question my mother asked me as soon as I stepped foot into the home? She would ask me, “Did you ask good questions today!” That is what developed the curiosity to know and learn more!

I used to read this poem in my childhood: “For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; For want of the shoe, the horse was lost; For want of the horse, the rider was lost; For want of the rider, the battle was lost; For want of the battle, the kingdom was lost; And all from the want of a horseshoe nail.”

But, actually, if you turn it around and look at it from below, you will see the glimpses of “The Five Whys” Philosophy that is very famous in Japan. In the Automotive Domain’s quality control, the intent is to check “why” five times and not stop with one. Ask “why did we lose the war?” Why? Because we didn’t have a warrior. Why wasn’t a warrior there? Because there wasn’t a horse! Find out why the horse wasn’t there? Because the horseshoe wasn’t properly fitted. Why wasn’t the horseshoe fitted properly? The reason is that a nail had came loose. Oh! You are asking “why” five times to arrive at the final root cause? This is what the five Whys indicate! In fact, sometimes we miss it for some reason while doing the “Five Whys”; for that reason, we will rewind once again. Examine four “therefore” (There — 4). The nail wasn’t there; therefore, the shoe wasn’t in place. Therefore, the horse fell off. Therefore, the warrior couldn’t run. Therefore, the war was lost. So, check for “therefore” too.

Like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. If you keep going on like that, one of those points could be a “Force Majeure”, a French phrase which means that it could have been an “act of God”. For instance, “Why didn’t you complete the project?” because “Corona interfered, and what can I do?” We can only say “Yes, okay, stop it, thank you, fine”! Why? Because it is not in our control; it is beyond physical, human influence. So when a Force Majeure situation comes up, please stop with the previous box and try looking forward from there for the “Four Whys”.

One of the benefits of doing “Five Whys” analyses is that when you go from the top to the bottom, one by one when you ask questions, it will start with a specific instance. For example, a boy fails in an exam or a customer is unhappy. But just after two or three “whys”, the underlying process is revealed. Like, why did the boy fail? Probably the boy should have read daily and consistently, but he didn’t do that, and this is revealed as a “process problem”. Also, why is the customer unhappy? Probably the product has a defect in it and didn’t work as expected. If you try and dive deeper and analyse further, you will also realise that there is a value, ethic, and culture issue at the deepest level. So, why did the boy fail? Because he didn’t read well. Why didn’t he read well? Because he wasn’t taught that it is important. If he had understood the importance, he would have studied well. Likewise, why is the customer unhappy? Because the product had a bug. Why did the product even go out in the market? Are we haphazard and careless? It’s because the thought of “good enough is good enough” prevailed there. It’s because we didn’t subject it to the best possible test cases. And that is because, we don’t have that value encoded in our system. So, don’t point your finger just at some specific individual in the team. One should evaluate the process and the culture that guides the process, and that’s where the core is. That is always better than finding faults and blaming somebody.

Isn’t that right?

So, will you ask “Five Whys”?

Or will you ask me, “Why?”

Thank you!