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Nine Whys

TTool · Nine Whys

By , Editor · · What’s Next

The team ships on time. They hit their metrics. But ask anyone why the work matters and you get job descriptions, not conviction.

Nine Whys is a paired conversation technique for discovering deeper purpose. Partners take turns asking "Why is that important to you?" nine times in sequence, each answer becoming the seed of the next question. Unlike Five Whys for root-cause analysis, Nine Whys explores motivation and meaning.

A two-column vertical ladder headed "Why does any of this actually matter?", with columns labelled Asker and Answerer and nine numbered "Why?" rungs grouped into three tiers, from things already told yourself to what the work is actually for.
Method visual — Nine Whys
A move inside a Playbook

“Someone senior is going to try to hijack the next meeting.”

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