For an example: Former employee accesses a company's system (highly undesirable).


Why? Access still active.
Why? No one has disabled the access.
Why? There was no request to do so.
Why? No one reported that he or she quit the job.
Why? No procedure was in place for employees when they leave.
 You can combine this with other methods also.
 The time to use it includes:


For troubleshooting
When making quality improvements
When problem solving
For simple and moderate problems.
 When a problem arises:


Ask the "why" questions.
Do that till you reach the source of problem.
Robust countermeasure should become apparent.
When asked "why", see that it's not an event that happened, but it must be an account of things.
Ask till you are confident that root cause is identified.
Ask the 5 Whys!,
Use this simplicity to give you greater flexibility.
Know when to use the 5 Whys!,
Know how to use it.
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