rc5w-root-cause-analysis-adaptive-why-chain

name	rc5w - Root Cause Analysis - Adaptive Why Chain
description	Adaptive root cause analysis. Ask "why" until you hit the root. Sometimes that's 2 levels, sometimes 12. Stop when you find the cause, not at a fixed number.
output	{"format":"prose"}

Root Cause Analysis - Adaptive Why Chain

Input: $ARGUMENTS

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Core Principles

1. Stop at the root, not at five. "5 Whys" is a heuristic, not a rule. Some problems have shallow causes (2 whys). Some are deeply systemic (10+ whys). Keep going until you hit a cause that, if fixed, prevents recurrence.

2. Root causes are systemic, not personal. "Someone made a mistake" is never the root cause. Why did the system allow that mistake? Why wasn't it caught? What structural change prevents it?

3. Multiple roots exist. Most problems have more than one contributing cause. Branch when you find a fork — don't force a single chain.

4. Read the chain forward. After building the why-chain backward, read it forward (cause → effect). Does each step logically produce the next? If not, you've made a reasoning error.

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Depth Scaling

Default: 2x. Parse depth from $ARGUMENTS if specified (e.g., "/rc5w 4x [input]").

Depth	Min Why-Chains	Min Levels per Chain	Min Branch Points	Min Root Causes Validated
1x	1	3	1	1
2x	2	5	2	1
4x	3	7	3	2
8x	4	9	5	3
16x	6	12	8	5

These are floors. Go deeper where insight is dense. Compress where it's not.

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The Process

1. State the Problem

Be specific. Not "the system is slow" but "API response time exceeded 500ms for 30% of requests between 2-4pm on Tuesday."

PROBLEM: [Specific, observable, measurable if possible]
IMPACT: [What this causes / why it matters]

2. Ask Why (Adaptive Depth)

For each answer, ask: "Why did this happen?"

PROBLEM: [stated problem]
│
├── WHY 1: [direct cause]
│   ├── WHY 2: [cause of cause]
│   │   ├── WHY 3: [deeper cause]
│   │   │   └── ... [continue until root]
│   │   └── [BRANCH: alternative cause at this level]
│   └── [BRANCH: alternative cause at this level]
│
└── [BRANCH: alternative direct cause]

At each level, check:

• Is this the root? (Would fixing this prevent recurrence?)
• Are there alternative causes at this level? (Branch if yes)
• Is the causal link solid? (Does this actually cause the level above?)

3. Root Cause Test

For each candidate root cause, verify:

Test	Question	Pass Condition
Prevention	If we fix this, does the problem stop recurring?	Yes, reliably
Depth	Is there a deeper "why" that matters?	No — or the deeper why is outside our control
Systemic	Is this structural, not personal?	Yes — it's about the system, not an individual
Actionable	Can we actually change this?	Yes — with available resources

If any test fails, keep going deeper or branch to an alternative cause.

4. Verify the Chain

Read the entire chain FORWARD (cause → effect):

[Root cause] → caused → [Level N-1] → caused → ... → caused → [Problem]

Each step must logically produce the next. If there's a gap, the chain is broken — investigate the gap.

5. Corrective Action

For each verified root cause:

ROOT CAUSE: [cause]
CORRECTIVE ACTION: [specific change]
PREVENTS RECURRENCE BY: [mechanism]
VERIFICATION: [how to confirm the fix works]

Corrective actions must address the ROOT, not the symptoms. "Add more servers" fixes the symptom (slow API). "Fix the N+1 query that causes load to scale quadratically" fixes the root.

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Common Patterns

Surface Problem	Typical Shallow Fix	Actual Root (Often)
Bug in production	Fix the bug	No test coverage for that path
Missed deadline	Work harder next time	Scope wasn't defined, no check-in cadence
Customer complaint	Appease the customer	Process doesn't catch this class of issue
Performance issue	Add resources	Algorithmic complexity or architecture mismatch
Communication failure	Blame the person	No structural feedback loop

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Pre-Completion Check

• Problem stated specifically (not vaguely)
• Why-chain continued until root cause test passes
• Branches explored where multiple causes exist
• Chain reads logically forward (cause → effect)
• Root cause is systemic, not personal
• Corrective action addresses root, not symptoms
• Verification method specified