Structuring thought

Problem, cause, solution

Stop problem reporting from ending at the description of the problem.

Message · Capability framework · No. 11

The shape

Problem
Cause
Solution

Why that order

It moves the conversation from what is wrong, to why it is happening, to what can be done. Skipping the cause produces solutions aimed at symptoms.

A worked example

Problem: Customer response time has increased.
Cause: Requests are being assigned by hand.
Solution: Route them automatically by request type.

What usually goes wrong

Naming a cause you have not established. A confident wrong cause is more expensive than an honest unknown one.

A framework tells you what shape the answer takes. It cannot tell you whether shape is what you are short of, and for most people it is not. Which one is yours, and whether a framework is the right instrument at all, is what a Discovery Call is for.

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