root-cause

Dig beneath symptoms to find fundamental causes and truths. Stop treating symptoms and solve actual problems.

Quick Start

1. Identify what you're trying to understand
2. Select technique based on what you need
3. Keep digging until you hit bedrock

Technique Selection

| Need | Use | Why | |------|-----|-----| | Understand why a problem occurs | Five Whys | Chain backward to root cause | | Challenge assumptions, rebuild from scratch | First Principles | Strip away conventions | | Understand what users actually need | Jobs-to-be-Done | Focus on underlying motivation |

Default: Use Five Whys for problems, JTBD for user needs, First Principles for innovation.

Techniques

Five Whys

Chain backward from symptom to root cause by repeatedly asking "why?" until you hit fundamental cause.

Read cookbook/five-whys.md

First Principles Decomposition

Strip away assumptions and conventions to find fundamental truths, then rebuild solutions from basics.

Read cookbook/first-principles.md

Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD)

Understand what users are really trying to accomplish, not what they say they want.

Read cookbook/jobs-to-be-done.md

Core Principles

1. Symptoms lie - Surface problems often hide deeper causes
2. Keep asking - First answer is rarely the root cause
3. Challenge assumptions - "That's just how it works" isn't an explanation
4. Multiple roots - Problems often have several contributing causes
5. Verify - Test your root cause hypothesis before acting

When Root Cause Analysis Works Best

• Same problem keeps recurring
• Fixes don't stick
• Problem feels like "that's just how it is"
• You're solving what customers ask for, not what they need
• Starting something new and want to avoid inherited assumptions

Warning Signs You Need This

• "We've tried everything but the problem persists"
• "That's how we've always done it"
• "Users say they want X" (but X doesn't seem to help)
• "We fixed that already" (but it came back)
• Solving lots of small problems instead of one big one