Stop Asking Why
Published 2/2026
MP4 | Video: h264, 1920x1080 | Audio: AAC, 44.1 KHz, 2 Ch
Language: English | Duration: 1h 40m | Size: 1011.13 MB
The Root Cause Analysis Shift That Changes Everything
What you'll learn
Identify why the Five Whys method creates defensiveness and blame instead of uncovering true root causes
Facilitate blameless postmortems that build psychological safety and produce honest, actionable findings
Reframe investigative questions using systems thinking to reveal systemic failures instead of scapegoating individuals
Apply modern root cause analysis frameworks used by high-performing organizations like Google and Netflix
Requirements
No prior experience with root cause analysis or continuous improvement is required
Helpful but not required: experience leading or participating in incident reviews, retrospectives, or postmortems
An open mind and willingness to challenge conventional problem-solving methods
Description
Every organization wants to find the root cause of problems. So they reach for the most popular tool in the box: the Five Whys. It seems simple, logical, and effective. But there's a problem no one talks about -- it often makes things worse.
The word "why" triggers defensiveness. It shifts the focus from systems to people. And before you know it, your root cause analysis has become a blame session disguised as problem solving. Teams learn to protect themselves instead of telling the truth, and the real root cause stays hidden.
This course challenges the conventional wisdom around root cause analysis and gives you a better way forward.
You will learn why the Five Whys method breaks down in practice, even when the people using it have good intentions. You will understand how the language of investigation shapes the answers you get, and why "why" is one of the most counterproductive questions you can ask during an incident review. Most importantly, you will walk away with practical, proven alternatives that create psychological safety, uncover systemic issues, and build a culture of learning instead of blame.
We will cover blameless postmortems and how to actually run them, the difference between human error and system failure, how to reframe investigative questions to get honest and useful answers, and how organizations like Google, Etsy, and Netflix approach failure as a learning opportunity rather than a punishment event.
This course is for managers, team leads, quality professionals, IT operations staff, project managers, and anyone responsible for investigating problems and improving processes. Whether you work in tech, manufacturing, healthcare, cybersecurity, or any other field, the principles in this course will transform how your team handles failure.
No prior experience with root cause analysis is required. If you have used Five Whys before and felt like something was off, this course will show you exactly what went wrong and what to do instead.
** This course curriculum was created/developed by Kandi Brian. All video and sound is authentic and not created by AI. Kandi (aka Alicia Crowder) has a Master of Science in Cybersecurity and a Bachelor of Science in Data Analytics and Data Management along with many industry certifications and over 20 years working in IT and business development. She works as a consultant for various companies as well as a full-time IT Architect in the professional world and has been a published author since the year 2000. She has created many courses both on Udemy and independently for cybersecurity companies directly. Helping others continue their growth process while she continues to work on her own is her lifelong passion.
Who this course is for
Managers and team leads who run incident reviews, retrospectives, or postmortems and want better outcomes
Quality, operations, and continuous improvement professionals frustrated with root cause analysis that leads to blame
IT operations, DevOps, and SRE professionals responsible for incident response and system reliability
Anyone in a leadership role who wants to build a blameless learning culture within their team or organization
Stop Asking Why
