Project Manager Whys: Bring your inner child to work!

As I discovered when studying for the project management certification, most toddlers do something that is good business practise. 'Why?' they enquire. They question why to just about everything at some point. This is arguably preferable than the period where they refuse to accept anything. However, I can see how this may become tiresome. We appear to lose our sense of curiosity no matter how patient our parents were with us during our 'Why' era. Curiosity may be really useful in guiding us. The tool I'm referring about here is known as 'The Five Whys.'

Use 'The Five Whys' for root cause analysis and to truly comprehend the motivation behind your project. Let's have a look at some examples:

You and your team are aware that there is a problem, but it could be caused by a number of factors. This is an excellent opportunity to start with what you already know and work your way backward to the source of the problem.

1.       Despite the fact that we produced the product on time and on budget, our customer has decided not to engage us again.

WHY won’t they hire us again?

2.       The product we delivered did not meet their expectations.

WHY didn’t the product meet their expectations?

3.       The customer states that functionality is missing.

WHY does the customer state functionality is missing?

4.       The customer has a requirements list that does not match the list we used.

WHY does the customer have a requirements list that differs from ours?

5.       When our first project manager left, there was no smooth transfer to the new project manager. The new project manager believed he had all of the necessary documentation.

WHY did a change in project manager lead us to use the wrong version of a document?

I'll stop here because I'm confident you can figure out how to use this tool. You can also see that it takes more than five whys at times and less than five whys at other times. It's critical to keep continuing until you discover the true causes of the problem you're investigating. Of course, there's a chance you'll come up with multiple reasons to take action.

'And why are we doing this?' you're probably already getting looks from your team. That's a wonderful thing because they can assist you in getting started. Don't be put off by why inquiries. You are not required to respond to every why. This is a collaborative effort. You can make why inquiries enjoyable and ingrained in your team's culture. Invite your staff to act like children and ask "why?

Need more insights on the same? Enrol in a project management or business analyst course today!