# why

Iterative questioning technique that drills from surface symptoms to fundamental root causes by repeatedly asking "why."

* Purpose - Find the true root cause, not just symptoms
* Output - Chain of causation leading to actionable root cause

```bash
/why ["issue or symptom description"]
```

## Arguments

Optional description of the issue or symptom to analyze. If not provided, you will be prompted for input.

## How It Works

1. **State the Problem**: Clearly define the observable symptom or issue
2. **First Why**: Ask why this problem occurs; document the immediate cause
3. **Iterate**: For each answer, ask "why" again to go deeper
4. **Branch When Needed**: If multiple causes emerge, explore each branch separately
5. **Identify Root Cause**: Usually reached after 5 iterations when you hit systemic/process issues
6. **Validate**: Work backwards from root cause to symptom to verify the chain
7. **Propose Solutions**: Address root causes, not symptoms

### Depth Guidelines

* **Stop when**: You reach process, policy, or systemic issues
* **Keep going if**: "Human error" appears (ask why error was possible)
* **Branch when**: Multiple contributing factors exist
* **Not always 5**: Stop at true root cause, whether 3 or 7 whys deep

## Usage Examples

```bash
# Investigate a production bug
> /why "Users see 500 error on checkout"

# Analyze a recurring issue
> /why "E2E tests fail intermittently"

# Understand a performance problem
> /why "Feature deployment takes 2 hours"
```

### Example Output

```
Problem: Users see 500 error on checkout
Why 1: Payment service throws exception
Why 2: Request timeout after 30 seconds
Why 3: Database query takes 45 seconds
Why 4: Missing index on transactions table
Why 5: Index creation wasn't in migration scripts

Root Cause: Migration review process doesn't check query performance
Solution: Add query performance checks to migration PR template
```

## Best Practices

* Do not stop at symptoms - Keep asking "why" until you reach systemic causes
* Explore multiple branches - Complex problems often have multiple contributing factors
* Avoid blame - Focus on process and systems, not individuals
* Document everything - The chain of causation is valuable for future reference
* Test solutions - Implement, verify the symptom is resolved, then monitor for recurrence


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://cek.neolab.finance/plugins/kaizen/why.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.