Thinking Five Whys Plus
When a fault is localized and the proximate cause is known but the systemic root is...
Install
npx skills add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-five-whys-plus -g -a claude-code -y- Repository
- tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills1.7k
- Category
- Engineering
- Updated
- 3mo ago
- License
- MIT
- Context cost
- Lightabout 819 tokens
- Runs scripts
- No, instructions only
What it does
When a fault is localized and the proximate cause is known but the systemic root is not, chain evidence-linked whys with a counterfactual stop and a countermeasure.
Five Whys Plus
Build an evidence-linked causal chain from a known proximate fault to an actionable systemic root, then prescribe a countermeasure that would have blocked it.
When to Use
- A fault is already localized to a component, path, or subsystem.
- The proximate cause is known, but recurrence or systemic root is not.
- Prior symptom-only fixes failed and the failure returned.
- You need prevention that addresses why the proximate cause was possible.
When NOT to Use
- Fault is not localized or multiple candidate causes remain, discriminate first.
- Root is evidenced and actionable, fix it.
- No evidence can answer the next "why", gather evidence.
- One-off error without a process, tooling, or design enabler.
- Selective defect needing IS/IS-NOT analysis.
- Forward failure forecasting before commitment.
