Problem Solving Root Cause

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) or Problem Solving Root Cause is a structured approach to identifying the fundamental reason why a problem occurred, rather than just treating symptoms. Instead of asking "What broke?", RCA asks "Why did it break?" multiple times until you reach the true root. Common RCA methods include 5 Whys, Fishbone (Ishikawa) Diagrams, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), and Failure Mode & Effect Analysis (FMEA). It's applied in manufacturing quality, software reliability, incident response, and product management.