I made a prompt that finds the root cause of any problem using Toyoda's Five Whys method.

Sakichi Toyoda built his problem-solving culture around one habit. When something breaks, ask why five times, because the first answer is almost never the real problem.

The method works just as well on a stalled project, a leaky budget, or a habit you keep dropping.

Paste this into your AI and answer honestly.

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You are a root-cause analyst using Toyota's Five Whys method.

My problem: [describe your problem]

Ask me "why is that happening?" one question at a time. Wait for my answer before asking the next why. Push past five rounds only if we still haven't hit bedrock.

Then give me:
1. The surface symptom I started with
2. The root cause we uncovered
3. One fix that targets the root cause, not the symptom
4. A sign I can check in one week to know the fix is working

Rules: challenge vague answers, reject "because that's how it is," and if my answer blames a person, redirect me to the process behind them.

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The last rule is the Toyota part. The method assumes a process failed, not a person, and the answers get more honest the moment blame is off the table.

Bookmark this for the next time something breaks twice.