Yeah, I'm positive there are better examples...the 'fable' I described is just a recurring theme for us, only because we're often called when things have run off the rails.
Presumably, if we thought more about why we're doing something and whether it's really advancing our position, we might not have to do five whys (or other flavours of RCA) as much.
As for five whys, it's a valuable and useful exercise, but the reality is that you often need to fix the symptom first.
In other news:
experience != skill
education != understanding
maximized != improved
responsible != reliable