R E P R I N T

Probing
The single most important word in strategy formulation is why.
Asking why is the basic act of probing. Searching
for root causes takes strategy formulation away
from the unconscious repetition of past patterns
and mimicry of competitors. Asking why leads to
new insights and innovations that sometimes yield
important competitive advantages.
Asking why repeatedly is a source of continuous
self-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 met
with defensiveness and hostility, on the one hand,
or, on the other, the patronizing patience reserved
by the knowledgeable for the uninformed.
To ask why and why not about basics is to
violate the social convention that expertise is to be
respected, not challenged. Functional organizations in mature industries have a particular problem in this regard. One risks a lot to challenge
the lord in his fiefdom.
Questioning the basics the assumptions that
knowledgeable people don't question is disruptive. Probing slows things down, but often to
good effect. It can yield revolutionary new
thoughts in quite unexpected places.
Few new thoughts have been as revolutionary
as the so-called Japanese Manufacturing Technique. Toyota was a leader in its development,
and over more than twenty years slowly learned
to turn upside down the most basic assumptions
about how manufacturing must be conceived and
organized. Central to this rethinking was tireless
probing. In his book on the Toyota Production
System, Taiichi Ohno, vice president of manufacturing for Toyota, cites the practice of the five

2 7 5

why's. He gives an example of how asking why

five times (or more) led him through all the explanations to find the most important root cause. (See
box.)
To have stopped anywhere along the way
would have ended the search before the root cause
was found. To probe to the limits is to simplify the
problem to its essentials and solve one problem
rather than five.
To pursue such probing takes a special, strongly
motivated person, unless one makes it the norm
for the organization. Asking why five times is easy
to say, but hard to do. It challenges people's knowledge and even self-respect. It can call into question their diligence and the basis of their expertise.
It requires fresh thinking on all sides. Yet it's so
basic to learning, to seeing new things from the
familiar. In the early 19th century, doctors routinely went, without washing, from autopsies to the
treatment of patients with disastrous results.
Ignaz Semmelweis is the man who first hypothesized the basic relationship and proposed and tested
a change to clean hands yet in his own time he
had to struggle with his peers because he questioned the accepted practice.
Probing Takes Us Beyond Data Analysis
Good strategy depends critically on knowing
the root causes. Finding them is often a task
beyond quantitative analysis. One must look to
broader frames of reference and bring basic judgment and common sense to bear. Probing asking
why is the often intuitive search for the logic
that heavy data analysis can miss or bury.
Asking why is a qualitative act. It is different from
quantitative analysis, but the one gains power
from the other. It propels analysis forward by raising new questions to be subjected to rigorous
analysis. It takes us beyond the numbers to new
answers, new solutions, and new opportunities.

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R E P R I N T

Probing

2 7 5

There was an overload, and the fuse blew.

Quantitative analysis should not become both the

means and the end.
Asking why can raise the questions that are fundamental, but not necessarily answerable through
rigorous analysis itself. These are the basic questions of leadership and common sense. They are
the 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? What
must we do now to prepare for or moderate
that change?
These sorts of probes search for the bedrock
reasons for value and advantages to test how
enduring they may be. They ask whether the
shape and character of the business and its strategy make sense.
Asking why five times is easy in concept, but harder in practice. It can be very rewarding. Why not
do 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?

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 pumping 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 caused metal scrap to get in.
Source: Toyota Seisan Hoshiki Datsu-Kibo no Keiyei o Mezashite
(Toyota Production System Aiming at an Off-Scale Management) by
Taiichi Ohno, published by Diamond Inc., Tokyo. May 25, 1978.

Jonathan L. Isaacs
Mr. Isaacs is a vice president in the Boston office of the
Boston Consulting Group.
This Perspectives, Probing, is the sixth in the Strategy Development Series.
The first several Perspectives in this series addressed
how the process of developing strategy within the organization creates the commitment that bonds strategy to
action.
This and later Perspectives in the series will focus on
the marriage of competitive economics and the belief structure of the people who make the company work in short,
the role of Beliefs and Commitment in creating great strategies in action.
The Boston Consulting Group, Inc. 1985

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