What is the purpose of practicing asking the "5 Why's"?

The correct answer is B. To determine the root cause of an issue. The '5 Why's' is a root cause analysis technique originating from Toyota's lean manufacturing system, adopted in Agile retrospectives. By repeatedly asking 'Why?' (typically five times) in response to a problem, teams move past surface-level symptoms to uncover the underlying roo

Submitted by anjalisingh· Apr 18, 2026Continuous Improvement

Question

Options

ATo determine the scope of the Sprint
BTo determine the root cause of an issue
CTo determine the end result
DTo determine the prioritized backlog

How the community answered

(53 responses)

A
2% (1)
B
91% (48)
C
2% (1)
D
6% (3)

Explanation

The '5 Why's' is a root cause analysis technique originating from Toyota's lean manufacturing system, adopted in Agile retrospectives. By repeatedly asking 'Why?' (typically five times) in response to a problem, teams move past surface-level symptoms to uncover the underlying root cause. Addressing the root cause prevents recurrence. It is not used for sprint scoping, determining end results, or backlog prioritization.

Topics

#5 Whys#Root Cause Analysis#Problem Solving#Continuous Improvement Techniques

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