The "WHY" TOol

Recently I have been thinking a lot about using WHY questions to dig into analysis. In the past I have considered and used the Golden Circle concept quite often when analyzing situations related to basketball (among other things).

For instance in the case of a turnover you see when doing gametape --- The first level is WHAT HAPPENED?…..a turnover next HOW DID IT HAPPEN?…….let’s say a poor wing entry pass next level WHY DID IT HAPPEN?…..ball handler was off balance. It seems incomplete to stop there, although you certainly have gained valuable information. If you dig into the issue with another WHY then you really can uncover much more useful information. WHY WAS THE BALL HANDLER OFF BALANCE?…….poor core strength. It seems to me that using WHY as a tool to uncover issues can be very revealing. Not only does it help to eliminate bias, it also allows one to be very specific. If you never actually attack the root cause it will be hard to change. It is not nearly enough to just say "Stop Turning the Ball Over!" One has to be much more specific and understand the underlying causes.

​This is definitely a concept I plan on expanding. See a Ricardo Semler TED talk below who I first heard his concept of “Three Why’s in a Row” while he was recently on the Tim Ferriss Show link also attached! ​

NOTES: 

http://tim.blog/2017/03/19/ricardo-semler/

Twitter - @ricardosemler

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