Protocol
Follow the cause chain until you reach a changeable contradiction
'Human error' and 'system complexity' are endpoints only if you intend to fix nothing.
When it fits
- The team stops at a symptom or keeps producing root causes too broad to act on.
When to avoid it
- Cause chains can oversimplify feedback systems; use a loop or system model when causes and effects reinforce one another.
Why it matters
Start from the harmful effect and repeatedly ask what conditions directly produce it. For each link, record the evidence and whether the condition is necessary, sufficient or only contributory. Stop when you reach a mechanism or contradiction that can be changed without merely renaming the symptom.
Steps
- The chain ends in a specific changeable mechanism or contradiction, not a personality label or generic abstraction.
An example
Wrong partner data may trace through an unprocessed IDoc, then a channel-specific mapping gap, then conflicting requirements around filtering and completeness.
Check your result
The chain ends in a specific changeable mechanism or contradiction, not a personality label or generic abstraction.
Keep this limit in mind
- Cause chains can oversimplify feedback systems; use a loop or system model when causes and effects reinforce one another.
Connected ideas
Useful withName what improves and what gets worse
Evidence and sources
The TRIZ Body of Knowledge includes cause-effect analysis for formulating key problems rather than stopping at the first observed symptom.
Cause-effect chains remain hypotheses until supported by observation or testing.
TRIZ Body of Knowledge · System analysis methods: cause-effect analysis