Root Cause Analysis Explained
The easiest way to understand root cause analysis is to think about common problems. If we’re sick and throwing up at work, we’ll go to a doctor and ask them to find the root cause of our sickness. If our car stops working, we’ll ask a mechanic to find the root cause of the problem. If our business is underperforming (or overperforming) in a certain area, we’ll try to find out why. For each of these examples, we could just find a simple remedy for each symptom. To stop throwing up at work, we might stay home with a bucket. To get around without a car, we might take the bus and leave our broken car at home. But these solutions only consider the symptoms and do not consider the underlying causes of those symptoms—causes like a stomach infection that requires medicine or a busted car alternator that needs to be repaired. To solve or analyze a problem, we’ll need to perform a root cause analysis and find out exactly what the cause is and how to fix it.
Root cause analysis (RCA) is the process of discovering the root causes of problems in order to identify appropriate solutions. RCA assumes that it is much more effective to systematically prevent and solve for underlying issues rather than just treating ad hoc symptoms and putting out fires. Root cause analysis can be performed with a collection of principles, techniques, and methodologies that can all be leveraged to identify the root causes of an event or trend. Looking beyond superficial cause and effect, RCA can show where processes or systems failed or caused an issue in the first place.
Core Principles
There are a few core principles that guide effective root cause analysis, some of which should already be apparent. Not only will these help the analysis quality, these will also help the analyst gain trust and buy-in from stakeholders, clients, or patients.
Focus on correcting and remedying root causes rather than just symptoms.
Don’t ignore the importance of treating symptoms for short term relief.
Realize there can be, and often are, multiple root causes.
Focus on HOW and WHY something happened, not WHO was responsible.
Be methodical and find concrete cause-effect evidence to back up root cause claims.
Provide enough information to inform a corrective course of action.
Consider how a root cause can be prevented (or replicated) in the future
Benefits and goals of root cause analysis
The first goal of root cause analysis is to discover the root cause of a problem or event. The second goal is to fully understand how to fix, compensate, or learn from any underlying issues within the root cause. The third goal is to apply what we learn from this analysis to systematically prevent future issues or to repeat successes. Analysis is only as good as what we do with that analysis, so the third goal of RCA is important. We can use RCA to also modify core process and system issues in a way that prevents future problems. Instead of just treating the symptoms of a football player’s concussion, for example, root cause analysis might suggest wearing a helmet to reduce the risk of future concussions. Treating the individual symptoms may feel productive. Solving a large number of problems looks like something is getting done. But if we don’t actually diagnose the real root cause of a problem we’ll likely have the same exact problem over and over. Instead of a news editor just fixing every single omitted Oxford comma, she will prevent further issues by training her writers to use commas properly in all future assignments.
Techniques and Methods
There are a large number of techniques and strategies that we can use for root cause analysis, and this is by no means an exhaustive list. Below we’ll cover some of the most common and most widely useful techniques.
5 Whys
One of the more common techniques in performing a root cause analysis is the 5 Whys approach. We may also think of this as the annoying toddler approach. For every answer to a WHY question, follow it up with an additional, deeper “Ok, but WHY?” question. Children are surprisingly effective at root cause analysis. Common wisdom suggests that about five WHY questions can lead us to most root causes—but we could need as few as two or as many as 50 WHYs.
Change Analysis/Event Analysis
Another useful method of exploring root cause analysis is to carefully analyze the changes leading up to an event. This method is especially handy when there are a large number of potential causes. Instead of looking at the specific day or hour that something went wrong, we look at a longer period of time and gain a historical context.
Tips for performing effective root cause analysis
Ask questions to clarify information and bring us closer to answers. The more we can drill down and interrogate every potential cause, the more likely we are to find a root cause. Once we believe we have identified the root cause of the problem (and not just another symptom), we can ask even more questions: Why are we certain this is the root cause instead of that? How can we fix this root cause to prevent the issue from happening again? Use simple questions like “why?” “how?” and “so what does that mean here?” to carve a path towards understanding.
Work with a team and get fresh eyes
Whether it’s just a partner or a whole team of colleagues, any extra eyes will help us figure out solutions faster and also serve as a check against bias. Getting input from others will also offer additional points of view, helping us to challenge our assumptions.
Plan for future root cause analysis
As we perform a root cause analysis, it’s important to be aware of the process itself. Take notes. Ask questions about the analysis process itself. Find out if a certain technique or method works best for your specific business needs and environments.
Remember to perform root cause analysis for successes too
Root cause analysis is a great tool for figuring out where something went wrong. We typically use RCA as a way to diagnose problems but it can be equally as effective to find the root cause of a success. If we find the cause of a success or overachievement or early deadline, it’s rarely a bad idea to find out the root cause of why things are going well. This kind of analysis can help prioritize and preemptively protect key factors and we might be able to translate success in one area of business to success in another area.