But, Why?

I'm not sure how many of you have watched or even gone through a situation where you've heard a parent, or maybe it's you, telling a child, "I want you to do something." And the child responds by saying, "But, why?" If you've been party to this kind of conversation, you will know that the parent will always respond by saying, "Because it's good for you," or "Because if you eat, you will be healthy," or something like that. But a reason is given.

 

Very often, the child may respond with another "But why?" The parent then responds with another reason, but this time just a little more testily than before. And again it's met with the same "But why?" When this goes on a little too long, the parent finally replies in frustration, "Because I said so! Just do it." That seems to be the end of the conversation.

 

When we are not in that situation, we can smile at it. But after you've gone through that situation 3 or 4 times, or gone down that road often, you think that the child is either trying to prolong the conversation so that they don't have to do what they are supposed to do, or just trying to irritate and annoy you. And yet, contrary to that assumption, in an article published by Science News, researchers at the University of Michigan, way back in 2009, did a study on child development and found that children actually seek explanations because they want to get information. They need to know why they are doing particular things. It helps them to process and help their conversational strategies. They are not merely trying to irritate you or trying to avoid stuff. They are actually cognitively trying to form a pattern in the way they operate and do things.

 

It came as a bit of a surprise to me when I read that article. Very often, we hear that phrase – Out of the mouth of babes – and now, we understand that 'why?' actually means something to them. But the reason I bring this up today is that in the 70s, a man by the name of Taiichi Ohno, working with Toyota, is credited with what is called the 5 'whys', which was a problem-solving technique that he developed at Toyota plants. It was a scientific approach, wherein the principle was that if you repeated the question 'why' 5 times, then, both the nature of the problem, as well as its solution, would become apparent. The whole idea was to get to the root cause. These 5 iterations of asking 'why' would generally get you there.

 

How does that pan out? Joel Spolsky wrote a very helpful article entitled "When and How to Micromanage." In it, he fleshes out this concept for us. Sometimes we wonder how we can keep asking 'why' over and over again, because we will always get an answer. But, the key is that at one point, we ought to be able to say, "If we fix that, then all the rest gets fixed as well, and we stop asking the 'whys'."

 

Spolsky recounts a time when he and a friend of his, Ryan Carson, were called to do a series of technical conferences for software developers. Part of this was to go to a new place that they had never been to before. They had to conduct the conference in a hall that they had never heard of. When he got there, he immediately knew that they were going to have trouble. The conference hall was tucked into the back corner of a strip mall. The audiovisual requirements that they had sent, had got to the organizers only the previous day, the staff was quite defensive saying that they had not had time to get anything ready. Joel says that he got into the car with Carson and they toured the town and found the places that stocked the equipment that they needed and picked up the gear. They managed to set up all in the nick of time.

 

But, as he was giving the talk, he was clearly worried that the video wasn't good enough, that the audio was making funny sounds, the stage monitors were buzzing, and there was fan noise from the amplifiers. It was a crazy experience, and he was quite upset. But when they finished the program and got back, he decided that instead of getting upset, he would sit down with everyone and try and find out what happened. How could they avoid this in future?

 

So, they decided to use the problem-solving technique of the Five Whys. They began asking the questions:

What was the problem? We couldn't switch video fast enough.

·       Why? Because we were using a cheap switch purchased at an office superstore.

·       Why? Because we assumed that the venue operators would provide a high-quality switch, which they didn't.

·       Why? Because the venue operators didn't have our list of AV requirements.

·       Why? Because we didn't get it there in time.

·       Why? Because Carson felt that the people who should have got it there didn't have a standard checklist of procedures for each conference: what to do one month before, once week before, and one day before.  

They stopped there and asked what the solution could be. Obviously, the solution was better a better process for checklists.

 

So they implemented a checklist process of all their requirements that would go out one month before an event, two weeks before an event, and one week before an event. He says, "The program has been working like a charm every since."

 

Out of the mouths of babes we keep getting the question 'why'. Why should I do it? Yet, it seems to be a good management principle for us to adapt, and adopt as well – to ask the question when we are faced with a problem and we want to find a solution. Why? The why question will bring clarity to the problem as well as throw up a solution. Out of the mouths of babes we can sometimes get extraordinary wisdom, as Taiichi Ohno found out.

 

Maybe today you are faced with a situation or a problem that has been troubling you for a couple of days. Maybe it's time to apply the 'five whys' principle that worked so well for Toyota. And continues to do so. Five Whys! Why did this happen? Why did this happen? Why? Why? Why? Till you get to the heart of the problem and find the solution.

 

Friends, my hope and prayer for you is that this would help you somehow, and that you would be able to apply it and find solutions for some of the problems that are facing you.

 

May I pray with you? Almighty God, give to each one who reads this post the wisdom to find solutions. Bring to mind this problem-solving exercise when needed and may the solutions come from You and with heavenly wisdom, so that they will find change in the situations that they face, and solutions to the problems that confront them. In Jesus' precious name, I pray. Amen.

 

•       Taiichi Ohno, "Toyota Global Site."  http://www.toyota-global.com/company/toyota_traditions/quality/mar_apr_2006.html

•       Joel Spolsky, "When and how to Micromanage."  http://www.inc.com/magazine/20091201/when-and-how-to-micromanage.html

•       Science Daily (Nov, 13, 2009) "When Preschoolers Ask Questions, They Want Explanations."