Root cause analysis template

This free root cause analysis template walks you through one problem in a change. Write the problem statement, compare what you expected with what happened, and set out the timeline. Find causes with the 5 Whys and a list of cause categories, and note the contributing factors. Then name each fix with an owner and a date, and say how you will check that it worked. Fill it in online or print it.

Fill in the template

ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS

Problem statement
   What went wrong, where and since when, in one or two sentences. Describe the problem, not a cause and not a person.
   ______________________________________________
   ______________________________________________

What we expected
   What the change was supposed to produce, as the team understood it at the start.
   ______________________________________________
   ______________________________________________

What actually happened
   The facts, with data or records where you have them.
   ______________________________________________
   ______________________________________________

Timeline
   The key events in order, with dates. When the change started, when the problem was first seen, and what has been tried since.
   ______________________________________________
   ______________________________________________

5 Whys
   Write the problem, then ask why it happened and write the answer. Ask why again of that answer. Stop when you reach a cause you can act on. Mark any answer you have not checked as a question to check.
   ______________________________________________
   ______________________________________________

Cause categories
   Check each category for a cause the 5 Whys missed: people and roles; process and methods; tools and systems; information and training; measures and targets; workload and timing.
   ______________________________________________
   ______________________________________________

Contributing factors
   Things that did not cause the problem on their own but made it more likely or made it worse.
   ______________________________________________
   ______________________________________________

Fixes, with owner and date
   For each cause you will act on, the fix, who owns it and by when.
   ______________________________________________
   ______________________________________________

How we will check the fix worked
   The measure you will look at, where it stands today, and the date you will look at it again.
   ______________________________________________
   ______________________________________________

How to use it well

These steps are practice suggestions, not tested findings.

Write the problem before the cause. A problem statement that already names a cause ("the training was too short") skips the analysis. Say what went wrong, where and since when.

Bring the people who saw it. Fill it in with two or three people who were there when the problem happened. One person's analysis can end up as a list of what that person could see.

Ask why of the work, not the person. Look for causes in the plan, the process, the tools and the workload. If an answer is "someone made a mistake", ask why the work made that mistake easy to make.

Check each answer. In the 5 Whys, each answer should be something you can show, not a guess. If you cannot show it yet, write it down as a question to check before you act on it.

Use the categories to catch what you missed. The 5 Whys follows one chain of causes. The category list is a prompt to look sideways for a second or third cause.

Keep causes and contributing factors apart. Fix the causes first. A contributing factor, such as a busy month, may be worth noting without being the thing to fix.

Keep the fixes few, with an owner each. One to three fixes that get done are worth more than a long list that does not.

Decide now how you will know it worked. Pick the measure and the date before the fix goes in. If the problem comes back, either the fix was not carried out or the cause was somewhere else, and the analysis goes round again.

What the research says

No study in the Evidence Library behind this site tests root cause analysis, the 5 Whys or fishbone diagrams, so treat this template as a practical tool, not a validated one. The methods on this page are described as common practice. The fishbone diagram's other names, cause-and-effect diagram and Ishikawa diagram, are as ASQ (n.d.) gives them. The cause categories in the worksheet are my own plain-language list, adapted for a change at work, not a standard set.

For a review held after each piece of work, the after action review template describes debriefs, which have been tested in controlled comparisons.

How it maps to the Unfrozen Loop

1. Week 0
   Before you start
2. 1
   Surface both ways

   The people closest to the work may see a cause that others cannot. Ask them before you settle on an answer, and write down what they said, not what you expected to hear.

3. 2
   Make sense together, top included
4. 3
   Start it close to the work
5. 4
   Review on a rhythm, then hold the pace

   As a rule of thumb, not a tested finding: a root cause analysis fits the review rhythm. When the same problem shows up at two reviews in a row, run one, and check the fix first at the next review.

6. 5
   The middle’s own weather
7. Ring
   Safe to speak, and speaking changes something

   Ask why, not who. If the analysis turns into a search for someone to blame, people stop saying what happened.

Highlighted parts are the ones this idea speaks to. The mapping is my reading, not a tested finding. See the whole Loop and the evidence for each part.