Identifying the Causes of Poor Downstream Quality

To improve quality upstream, you need to know the root causes of poor quality downstream. The Five Whys[2] process is one method you can use to examine your current culture, processes, and tools. One axis of questioning is the following:

[2] See Chapter 11, “Root Cause Analysis.”

1.Why are there defects that require redesign?

  • Because scenarios are missing, incomplete, or not well understood.

2.Why are scenarios missing, incomplete, or not well understood?

  • Because they were not known at design time.

3.Why were they not known at design time?

  • Because design and implementation were started before they were known.

4.Why did design and implementation start early?

  • Because code was considered measurable ...

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