No, seriously. Root Cause is a Fallacy. – Will Gallego Quote: If you’re looking for a substitute for the phrase “root cause”, one that would typically allow for you to illustrate an important point without conceding that there’s a place to stop (beyond our finite limit to dig into everything), I use the following: Contributing factors Surrounding events One of many components Influencing ideas Conditions States" (categories: engineeringrcaroot-cause-assessment )