Tree Root Diagrams, a powerful problem solving addition to the Five Whys

Solving problems in this complex world can be a huge challenge. The Five Whys is a powerful technique in our hunt for the root cause of an issue; however it rarely provides the full answer. Combining Tree Root Diagrams with the Five Whys can ensure that your team gains a full understanding of the root cause(s) of the issue. Once you know the root cause(s) a permanent solution is only a few simple actions away.

A Tree Root Diagram captures all of the causes linked to an issue in a downward expanding tree of causes. These diagrams often look like the root structure of a large tree. They are most useful when a group of people is collaboratively solving a complex problem.

The approach is straight forward: on a large whiteboard write your issue (really the symptom) in the top middle part of the whiteboard. Ask “What caused this to occur?” Write a very brief summary of each cause that is mentioned and draw an arrow from the symptom to each cause. Now repeat for each cause, building up your tree as your examine each cause. For each Root Cause you identify, circle it and come up with an action or two to address it. List the actions near the Root Cause and draw a line from the actions to the Root Cause.

Benefits of Tree Root Diagrams

• Finds multiple causes of a single symptom; including related issues.
• Visualizes the relationship between the symptom and its many causes.
• Visually links actions to the Root Cause the group is addressing.
• Allows the group to discuss tangential topics then return to the core issue without losing track of what they were up to.
• Acts as a record of what the group discussed and agreed upon.

More Examples

A simpler example

An example of when it is quiet linear.

A complex example

How I stumbled onto Tree Root Diagrams

Around July 2015 I was coaching some new Scrum Masters in effective problem solving and usage of the Five Whys. I keep hearing myself suggest to them to write down each answer to Why that the team called out. My intention being to get them and the team realized that the first answer is rarely the root cause. I quickly realized I was not doing this myself and set out to walk my own talk. What I found when I made a concerted effort to write down the causes, was that there were often multiple possible answers to each Why. Hence my notes quickly turned into tree diagrams which I labelled as Tree Root Diagrams and have used ever since.

Ishikawa diagrams

Tree root diagrams are similar yet different to Ishikawa diagrams turned 90 degrees. Ishikawa diagrams focus on categorizing the different causes in a hierarchy. Tree Root Diagrams focus on the linkage between causes; of potentially very different categories.

Lack of empowerment is making your project late

Projects become late one day at a time because small impediments occur and front line workers are not empowered to resolve those impediments on the spot. Those small impediments turn into day long or longer delays. Once that day is lost to delay it is near impossible to get it back. To reduce this we need to empower front line workers to immediately solve impediments and to exploit opportunities that present themselves. 

Opportunities are the flip side of impediments; each day our front line workers experience impediments and opportunities. It is how they approach those situations that determine the outcome of our project. On a daily basis opportunities to improve quality, deliver faster, boost morale and drive innovation arise. Is your team ready to take advantage of them? 

Waiting for input to solve an impediment increases the impact of that impediment and often increases the effort needed to resolve it. Waiting for input to take advantage of an opportunity diminishes the value of the opportunity and again can increase the effort needed to implement it. 

Our front line workers need the authority, information, tools and support to make empowered decisions quickly.

Examples of impediments leading to day long delays

• Scrum Master waits for his Line Manager to approve the purchase a $30 license for a communication tool that allows the team to more easily work at home; instead of purchasing it out of his own money KNOWING that his Line Manager will support the decision, and pay the expense claim.
• A Product Owner waits until the end of the Sprint before contacting another team to make a small change in their component because the process demands it.
• An experienced team member feels that he must wait for the Tech Lead to return from the training course his is on before he can implement a framework change.
• Anytime, anyone waits for test results overnight.

Link to Lean
All successful lean implementations incorporate an extremely strong idea generation and execution process that involves everyone. This empowers all staff and makes fast decision making an everyday occurrence. This is a prime example of empowering staff to drive success. For further reading: The Role of Front-Line Ideas in Lean Performance Improvement


Don't let your project become late one day at a time! Empower your people; so that they own and drive project success

Photo Credit: damn_unique

Running a World Café

This is a brief summary of my experience of running a World Café.

I volunteered to run a World Café, themed around Organisational Impediments and how to solve them, for my local agile Meet-Up group ‘Brisbane Agile’*

I deliberately kept my preparation to a minimum. I held some discussions with the Meet-Up Organiser, regarding how we would run the event and set up the room. Apart from that I created a few wall charts to help smooth out proceedings and came up with some sample Organisational Impediments. These were a backup in case the participants were reluctant to volunteer their own items for discussion. This word document contains the wall charts I used.

We set up the room with five groups of tables that seated about six people each. Seating for thirty people was wishful thinking, by the start time we had two full tables. The low numbers were probably due to the event being event in the Christmas season.

While guests were entering and eating the free pizza, I wondered around introduced myself. Asking what had brought them here and suggesting that they post their question or topic on the provided wall charts. From member I think we ended up with eight topics being suggested by the participants.

After brief introductions from our sponsor and the meet-up organiser, I got everyone on their feet and used dot voting to select two of the eight suggested topics. There were a couple of clear winners, which made it easy to start the two tables discussing each topic.

As a group we decided as a group to drop down to ten minute discussion rounds. This allowed us to get through four topics in total.

I time boxed us to ten minutes of discussion, followed by a couple of minutes to switch tables and then another ten minutes of discussion. The conversations that occurred where very animated. It was a real struggle to stop them and get us on to the next round. After the first topics had been discussed by both groups we had the topic leader provide a quick overview which sparked even more discussion.

With roughly half of our planned time used up we used dot voting again to select another two topics and do it all again. Again we had very energetic discussions, which were constrained by the ten minute boundary.

The result was these sheets of butchers paper, which fail to convey the excitement and energy that was in the room.

Result: Agile Contract Models

Result: Introducing Agile into a large organisation

Result: What is more effective Scrum of Iterative Waterfall and Why?

Result: Agile estimation

We ended up with some very satisfied attendees. Some left with a much better understanding of agile, another walked away with an action plan for how he will sell agile to the management group in the company he has just joined. Everyone seemed to walk away happy.

I whole heartedly recommend you to run your own World Café; it is easy to set up, exciting and harness the energy of the participants.

*At the time of the World Café it was actually a separate group ‘Brisbane Scrum and Agile’ Group, however it has since merged with the ‘Brisbane Lean and Agile’ group to become ‘Brisbane Agile’.

Photo by: Travel Fools of America 

Full Steam Ahead?

Is the team really working that well, that they have no impediments? I don't think so...

It can take a long time for new teams to feel comfortable to raise their issues and to ask for help.

Christopher Broome from the Scrum Alliance has an excellent post on this subject: I have no impediments.

Picture by:  J. P. Mueller