The Five Whys
An exercise intended to help Product Managers explore their problem area and think deeply about the problem they want to solve.
Introduction
The Five Whys exercise is intended to get to the core of the Product Manager's goal or motivations. By being asked Why-based questions, the Product Manager will begin to think of the underlying reasons for their beliefs and shall reach some key insights.
The questions should go deeper into the problem area rather than horizontally (i.e. 'Why else...'). By the fourth or fifth question, the Product Manager should be giving answers which reflect the deep principles surrounding their problem area.
This exercise is a great way to introduce the problem area each Product Manager in the room is intending to address and to help find common areas of interest.
This exercise is based on a research method found on Design Kit (https://www.designkit.org/methods/66).
Required Materials
Pen and paper to note the responses.
Workflow
One Product Manager will play the role of interviewer and the other of interviewee.
The interviewee should state in one sentence their long term goal.
The interviewer will ask a question starting with "why..." that will examine the deeper motivations behind the goal.
The interviewer should ask four or more why questions.
Collaboration
This workshop is useful for introducing participants to an inquisitive mindset. We found that conducting this workshop before The Bigger Picture increased the level of depth that Questioners went into in the next workshop. When conducting the Five Whys with a larger group, asking all participants to ask one question to the Product Manager will share responsibility and give more unique perspectives.
Resources
The following resources expand on the history and usefulness of The Five Whys:
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