75-95% of industrial accidents are due to human-error Are people really that incompetent? Don Norman argues–when failure rates are this high, the problem isn’t people. It’s bad design and bad processes. Sakichi Toyoda, founder of Toyota Industries, saw this decades ago He realized that most problems weren’t what they seemed on the surface. Instead, there was always something deeper. So he developed a deceptively simple method to get to the truth. The 5 Whys. The concept is pretty simple. When you encounter a problem, don’t stop at the first answer. Instead, ask “Why?” Then ask it again. And again. Until you uncover the real cause, not just the symptom. But does it always take exactly 5 whys? Not really. Sometimes you’ll need 3, sometimes 7. The point is to keep going until you hit the root cause. Because most people stop too soon. For instance, let’s use this to answer something we all experience: Why are modern humans so impatient? Why? We can’t stand waiting. Why? We expect everything to be instant. Why? Technology has conditioned us for speed. Why? Companies optimize for fast gratification. Why? Attention = money. That’s the real reason. The world isn’t “just getting faster.” We’re being trained for impatience. Streaming platforms keep us hooked with autoplay. QCom making 10-min delivery, the norm. Social media floods us with instant dopamine hits. Every second we wait = a second we might leave. If you only looked at the surface, you’d say - People should just be more patient. But once you dig deeper, you realize: Self-control isn’t the issue. We’re not “lazier” than before. The systems we use every day are rewiring our brains. Now, The 5 Whys method is a core part of Toyota’s Production System, and many top companies use it to diagnose problems before they snowball. Because if you only fix symptoms, the problem keeps coming back. So next time you hit a roadblock, keep asking why. That’s where the real answers are.