5W+H

The method pins down the context around a situation. It helps establish what everyone agrees on, and it helps pass an idea on without leaving out the details.

It goes back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and was adopted into the Toyota Production System for analysing problems.

When to use it

  1. When you need to gather facts about a situation you do not yet know.
  2. To establish the circumstances in which a problem arose.
  3. To plan what to do.
  4. To put together what you want to say to a particular group.
  5. To agree what a piece of software is for before building it.

When not to use it

  1. When the situation has already been described.
  2. When you need the causes of a problem you already understand — see 5 Why and the Ishikawa diagram.

The questions

  • What?
  • How?
  • Why?
  • When?
  • Where?
  • Who?

Four orders to ask them in

  1. Investigation — looking back.
  2. Planning — projects and events.
  3. Start with Why — building a message out of what you value.
  4. Software context — what a piece of software is for, before it is built.

Investigation

Concentrate on agreeing one version of events with the team. Start with the question that matters most: what happened?

The order: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

Then fill in the answers from the easiest to the hardest, talking every cause through with the team.

The goal: used well, the tool should read like a wire-service report. Short, and clear about the circumstances of what happened.

Planning

You are planning a venture, so you have to establish what it rests on and where its edges are.

The order: What? Where? When? How? Why? Who?

Start by talking through WHAT is going to happen. Then settle, as precisely as you can, the place and the date — WHERE and WHEN.

With those in hand, go through the details: HOW it will be done, and WHY it is being done at all.

Once everything is clear, name the coordinators responsible for each part, and everyone else involved (WHO).

The goal: used well, the tool clears up any doubt about the scope of the venture and assigns responsibility for its parts.

Start with Why

You are trying to get an idea across. Start with Why. The first three questions are the important ones; the other three are optional.

The order: Why?, How?, What?, and then Who? Where? When?

Inspired by Simon Sinek's work (watch his talk).

Great leaders communicate their vision starting from WHY. That is how they connect with what their audience values.

Then they answer HOW — by what means, and what sets them apart. Then they answer WHAT they do. WHO, WHERE and WHEN sharpen the answer to WHAT.

The goal: used well, the tool delivers the information in one particular order — values > authority > information — and that is the order that carries an audience.

Software context

You are about to build a piece of software — or a large feature of one — and you want the team to agree what it is for before anybody argues about how to build it.

The order: Why? and How?, and then Who? Where? What? When?

Here each question is narrowed to one aspect of the software, and comes with two prompts:

  • Why? — intentions. What do we want to improve? What problem are we solving?
  • How? — features. How do we want to improve it? What is the most important feature?
  • Who? — users. Who is going to use it? Which groups and roles?
  • Where? — situational context. Where, in place and in time, are the users? What situations do they find themselves in?
  • What? — product. What do we want to achieve? What change is it meant to bring?
  • When? — planning. When does the application have to be ready? What are the key dates and milestones?

Start on the left of the sheet. WHY and HOW are the intent: the problem, and the feature that matters most in answering it.

Then move to the square on the right. Above the line are WHO and WHERE — the people, and the situations they are in when they reach for the software. Below it are WHAT and WHEN — what is to be delivered, and by when.

The goal: used well, the tool puts on one sheet who the software is for, what it should change for them and by when — before anyone decides how to build it.

The canvas is 5W1H Software Context 1.0 by Makimo, used under CC BY.

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