Five Whys failure recovery
#6 · Domain: Toyota Production System · Category: quality-control · Difficulty: 🟡 Medium
Core principle
Every defect is a system failure. Fix the system permanently.
AI problem addressed
Retry with tweaked prompt fixes symptoms not causes.
Implementation
- Log failure artifact
- Ask Why ×5 until schema/process gap found
- Implement structural fix (schema, gate, preflight)
- Add to failure case library Example: missing file → orchestration passes text not metadata → add inter-step schema.
Boundaries
- Prototype as prompt scaffold (🟢) before full pipeline middleware (🟡/🔴)
- Category router:
ai-transfer-quality-control - Catalog:
ai-transfer-ecosystem-primer - Runtime plugin id:
root_cause_drill