5 Whys Retrospective

• A recurring problem the team keeps discussing without fixing.
• After an incident or a missed goal.
• When there is one problem to focus on, not a whole sprint to review.

Purpose: Investigate recurring problems and move from symptoms toward underlying causes.

• ❗ Problem statement

  Describe one specific problem.

• ❓ Why?

  Why does this happen?

• 🌱 Root-cause hypothesis

  What do we believe is the underlying cause?

• 🧪 Proposed intervention

  What experiment would address it?

1. 1

   Define one specific problem · 4 min

   Agree on one concrete, observable problem. 'Deploys failed 3 times this sprint' beats 'quality is bad'.

2. 2

   Gather supporting evidence · 5 min

   Collect facts and data as comments on the problem: when, how often, what impact.

3. 3

   Explore successive causes · 10 min

   Ask 'why?' on each card. Branch when there are several causes. Stop when you reach something actionable — five is a guide, not a rule.

4. 4

   Validate the root-cause hypothesis · 8 min

   Pick the deepest credible cause(s). Ask: if we fixed this, would the problem stop? What evidence supports it?

5. 5

   Design an experiment · 5 min

   Design a small, measurable experiment against the root cause. Define how you'll know it worked.

6. 6

   Assign ownership & review date · 3 min

   Give the experiment an owner, a review date and a success criterion.

Notes a software team might write:

Expected outcome: A testable explanation of the problem and a measurable corrective action.

• Five is a guide — stop when the answer is actionable.
• Follow every branch that has evidence; problems rarely have one cause.
• Ask 'why did the system allow this?' rather than 'who did this?'. Avoid personal blame.

Notes form a cause tree: problem → why → … → root-cause hypothesis → intervention. Branches allow several contributing causes, with evidence added as comments.

Each stage comes with instructions for the facilitator and the participants and a suggested timer you can adjust. Teammates join with a link and their name; no account needed.