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Field notes · #RootCause

Stop fixing.
Start solving.

Every repeated issue is a bill you have already paid. This is how I stop taping over the same leak — see the impact, trace the root cause, own the solution, and make sure the comeback cannot happen quietly.

01 — The pattern

When a problem repeats, productivity drops.

Same complaint, new week. Each round costs a few hours and a little more of the team’s patience — and the work that would have prevented it never makes it onto the board.

Productivity

02 — The difference

Fixing vs solving

Both look like work. Only one of them is finished when you stop.

Fixing

Tape over the leak. It holds for a week, then it comes back — and it brings a friend.

Solving

Replace the joint. It stays fixed, and nobody has to visit it again.

Keep scrolling: tape treats the symptom, the new joint treats the cause.

03 — The method

The STOP framework

Four questions I ask in order every time something comes back. Scroll through them — one letter at a time.

  • S
  • T
  • O
  • P

See the impact

Understand who is affected and how much, before touching anything. If nobody can name the cost, the priority is a guess.

  • Who feels it?
  • How often?
  • What does it cost?

Trace the root cause

Keep asking why until the answer is a design, not a person.

  • Why?
  • Why?
  • Why?
  • Why?
  • Why?

Own the solution

One name, one fix, one deadline. Shared ownership is nobody’s ownership.

  • Simplify Cut the steps
  • Automate Let machines repeat
  • Systemize Make it the default

Prevent the comeback

A fix with no signal is a guess. Keep watching the number that would tell you it returned.

  • Watch the signal that would say it came back.

04 — The test

Can this issue happen again?

If yes, it is not solved yet.

05 — The habit

Let’s solve it down to the root.

See the impact. Trace the root cause. Own the solution. Prevent the comeback. Four questions, in that order, every time.

  • See the impact

    Name who is affected and what it costs.

  • Trace the root cause

    Ask why until the answer is a design.

  • Own the solution

    One owner, one fix, one deadline.

  • Prevent the comeback

    Watch the signal that says it stayed away.

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