Probing

The single most important word in strategy for-mulation is why.

Asking why is the basic act of probing. Searchingfor root causes takes strategy formulation awayfrom the unconscious repetition of past patternsand mimicry of competitors. Asking why leads tonew insights and innovations that sometimes yieldimportant competitive advantages.

Asking why repeatedly is a source of continuousself-renewal, but the act of inquiry itself is an art.It can evoke strong reactions from the questioned.It is only rarely welcomed. It is sometimes metwith defensiveness and hostility, on the one hand,or, on the other, the patronizing patience reservedby the knowledgeable for the uninformed.

To ask why – and why not – about basics is toviolate the social convention that expertise is to berespected, not challenged. Functional organiza-tions in mature industries have a particular pro-blem in this regard. One risks a lot to challengethe lord in his fiefdom.

Questioning the basics – the assumptions that“knowledgeable” people don't question – is dis-ruptive. Probing slows things down, but often togood effect. It can yield revolutionary newthoughts in quite unexpected places.

Few new thoughts have been as revolutionaryas the so-called Japanese Manufacturing Tech-nique. Toyota was a leader in its development,and over more than twenty years slowly learnedto turn upside down the most basic assumptionsabout how manufacturing must be conceived andorganized. Central to this rethinking was tirelessprobing. In his book on the Toyota ProductionSystem, Taiichi Ohno, vice president of manufac-turing for Toyota, cites the practice of “the five

why's.” He gives an example of how asking “why”five times (or more) led him through all the expla-nations to find the most important root cause. (Seebox.)

To have stopped anywhere along the waywould have ended the search before the root causewas found. To probe to the limits is to simplify theproblem to its essentials and solve one problemrather than five.

To pursue such probing takes a special, stronglymotivated person, unless one makes it the normfor the organization. Asking why five times is easyto say, but hard to do. It challenges people's know-ledge and even self-respect. It can call into ques-tion their diligence and the basis of their expertise.It requires fresh thinking on all sides. Yet it's sobasic to learning, to seeing new things from thefamiliar. In the early 19th century, doctors routi-nely went, without washing, from autopsies to thetreatment of patients – with disastrous results.Ignaz Semmelweis is the man who first hypothesi-zed the basic relationship and proposed and testeda change to clean hands – yet in his own time hehad to struggle with his peers because he questio-ned the accepted practice.

Probing Takes Us Beyond Data Analysis

Good strategy depends critically on knowingthe root causes. Finding them is often a taskbeyond quantitative analysis. One must look tobroader frames of reference and bring basic judg-ment and common sense to bear. Probing – askingwhy – is the often intuitive search for the logicthat heavy data analysis can miss or bury.

Asking why is a qualitative act. It is different fromquantitative analysis, but the one gains powerfrom the other. It propels analysis forward by rai-sing new questions to be subjected to rigorousanalysis. It takes us beyond the numbers to newanswers, new solutions, and new opportunities.

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Quantitative analysis should not become both themeans and the end.

Asking why can raise the questions that are fun-damental, but not necessarily answerable throughrigorous analysis itself. These are the basic ques-tions of leadership and common sense. They arethe search for “the point.” For example:

• Why do we continue in this business?• Why should anyone buy this product?• What will prevent competitors from matching

us? What will we do then?• Why are we making so much money? Why

won't it eventually come to an end? Whatmust we do now to prepare for or moderatethat change?

These sorts of probes search for the bedrockreasons for value and advantages to test howenduring they may be. They ask whether theshape and character of the business and its stra-tegy make sense.

Asking why five times is easy in concept, but har-der in practice. It can be very rewarding. Why notdo it?

Can you Repeat “Why” Five Times ?

It's easy to say, but difficult to practice.

Suppose a machine stopped functioning.1. “Why did the machine stop functioning?”

“There was an overload, and the fuse blew.”

2. “Why was there an overload?”“It was because lubrication of the bearing was

not sufficient.”3. “Why was the lubrication not sufficient?”“Because the lubrication pump was not pum-

ping sufficiently.”4. “Why was it not pumping sufficiently?”“The shaft of the pump was worn, and it was

rattling.”5. “Why was the shaft worn out?”“There was no strainer attached, and this cau-

sed metal scrap to get in.”

Source: Toyota Seisan Hoshiki – Datsu-Kibo no Keiyei o Mezashite(Toyota Production System – Aiming at an Off-Scale Management) byTaiichi Ohno, published by Diamond Inc., Tokyo. May 25, 1978.

Jonathan L. Isaacs

Mr. Isaacs is a vice president in the Boston office of theBoston Consulting Group.

This Perspectives, “Probing,” is the sixth in the Stra-tegy Development Series.

The first several Perspectives in this series addressedhow the process of developing strategy within the organi-zation creates the commitment that bonds strategy toaction.

This and later Perspectives in the series will focus onthe marriage of competitive economics and the belief struc-ture of the people who make the company work – in short,the role of Beliefs and Commitment in creating great stra-tegies in action.

© The Boston Consulting Group, Inc. 1985

… Probing

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