“Ask 'why' five times about every matter” • Hacker News Board

Re: “Ask 'why' five times about every matter”

#11

Post by rmc » Mon, May 09, 2016, 9:36 AM UTC

hoodoof wrote: post #3

"Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?"

Because they make money and it takes a while to get caught.

Re: “Ask 'why' five times about every matter”

#12

Post by zappo2938 » Mon, May 09, 2016, 9:39 AM UTC

ajuc wrote: post #5

hoodoof wrote: post #3

"Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?"

It's supposed to be why(why(why(why(why(theMatter)))); not why(theMatter); why(theMatter); why(theMatter); why(theMatter); why(theMatter);

When I'm interviewing for a job at VW and they ask this question, I can deflect with my curry skills.

Re: “Ask 'why' five times about every matter”

#13

Post by jackgavigan » Mon, May 09, 2016, 9:39 AM UTC

The Five Whys is essentially Toyota's version of Root Cause Analysis.

Re: “Ask 'why' five times about every matter”

#14

Post by amelius » Mon, May 09, 2016, 9:40 AM UTC

ajuc wrote: post #5

hoodoof wrote: post #3

"Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?"

It's supposed to be why(why(why(why(why(theMatter)))); not why(theMatter); why(theMatter); why(theMatter); why(theMatter); why(theMatter);

That sounds very meta.

Re: “Ask 'why' five times about every matter”

#15

Post by erac1e » Mon, May 09, 2016, 9:41 AM UTC

ajuc wrote: post #5

hoodoof wrote: post #3

"Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?"

It's supposed to be why(why(why(why(why(theMatter)))); not why(theMatter); why(theMatter); why(theMatter); why(theMatter); why(theMatter);

compiler error at line 1. unmatched parenthesis.

... oh don't worry it's a loosely bracketed language.

Re: “Ask 'why' five times about every matter”

#16

Post by im3w1l » Mon, May 09, 2016, 9:46 AM UTC

rmc wrote: post #11

hoodoof wrote: post #3

"Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?"

Because they make money and it takes a while to get caught.

Why does it take a while to get caught?

Re: “Ask 'why' five times about every matter”

#17

Post by oblio » Mon, May 09, 2016, 9:48 AM UTC

davnn wrote: post #2

That's a really valuable lesson learned from The Lean Startup :-)

This method was invented by https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakichi_Toyoda. He died in 1930.

I'm pretty sure that it predates even the word "startup" as it is currently used :)

Re: “Ask 'why' five times about every matter”

#18

Post by MrJagil » Mon, May 09, 2016, 9:48 AM UTC

I preach this whenever i can in regards to social issues. Whenever one of your friends, or any person, acts in a way that you don't agree with (being rude, sleeping around etc), be patient and try to think about possible underlying causes; it's much more fruitful to engage the underlying unhappiness (carefully) than to react hastily to the immediate situation.

Re: “Ask 'why' five times about every matter”

#19

Post by hoodoof » Mon, May 09, 2016, 9:51 AM UTC

im3w1l wrote: post #16

rmc wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they make money and it takes a while to get caught.

Why does it take a while to get caught?

That's only one "why".

Re: “Ask 'why' five times about every matter”

#20

Post by spyrosg » Mon, May 09, 2016, 9:54 AM UTC

ajuc wrote: post #5

hoodoof wrote: post #3

"Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?" "Why do vehicle manufacturers lie about emissions?"

It's supposed to be why(why(why(why(why(theMatter)))); not why(theMatter); why(theMatter); why(theMatter); why(theMatter); why(theMatter);

Careful, enough why()'s and you invariably get nil. This is a pointer your employer probably doesn't want you to follow.