Stories that Move Mountains: Storytelling and Visual Design for Persuasive Presentations

Five Whys

Understanding why a change is important is often a matter of self-reflection. It's easy to say that a solution “just makes sense” because it makes sense to the author. But if you're going to explain why an idea makes sense to someone else, you need to remove yourself from the picture. For me, this is a kind of analysis game. I use the “Five Whys” method to drill down to the root motivation.

I remember one day when I was taking my children to play at an arcade. My son Andy, who was five years old at the time, decided to play. The interaction went like this:

Andy: Dad, are we stopping the car?

Me: Yes, we need to stop now.

Andy: Why?

Me: We are pulling into a gas station.

Andy: Why?

Me: We need to put some gas in the car.

Andy: Why?

Me: Because the car needs fuel in order for us to get to the arcade.

Andy: Why?

Me: Because I used up all the gas in the tank already.

Andy: Why?

This game went on for a few more rounds, and ended up in a fit of giggles. Of course, my son was simply having fun, and I knew it... so my answers were short on purpose, giving him an opportunity to ask why as many times as he wanted.

As an analysis technique, a game of five whys can be more revealing. For example, in one of my projects, I found myself wanting to convince a group of business leaders that they should work together to create a single eCommerce experience for all of our customers, ...