
216 ◾ Improving Business Process Performance
e five whys refers to the practice of asking, five times, why the problem exists in
order to get to the root cause of the problem (Figure 9.7, Table 9.1, and Figure 9.8).
Issue Analysis
It is often useful to break a problem down into components. Issue analysis is used
to define the elements of a problem and show these elements in some logical way.
is is often accomplished by using an issue tree.
An issue diagram is an effective method for breaking down problems and for-
mulating hypotheses. e key to identifying issues follows:
Develop a comprehensive list of all possible issues related to the problem. ...