The Same Problem, The Same Place...Every Single Time.
You know the one.
It might be a process that falls over at the same handoff every time. A billing error that appears in the same circumstances. A complaint that keeps coming from the same type of customer for the same underlying reason. A production step that needs intervention every third run.
It gets fixed...it comes back...it gets fixed again.
A workaround gets built around it, the workaround becomes standard practice, the standard practice becomes - that is just how we do it here.
Yet somewhere in that sequence, the actual problem stops being a problem and becomes a feature - an accepted cost, an inherited part of how the business runs.
This isn't bad luck. It is an un-removed root cause.
Why patching feels like fixing
When something breaks, the natural instinct is to stop it breaking right now - patch the gap, add the check, put the right person on it. The immediate pressure is relieved, the disruption stops and the business moves on.
What doesn't happen is the investigation into why it broke in the first place. That takes time the business usually doesn't feel it has - so the patch gets applied and called a fix and the root cause sits quietly underneath it...waiting.
Three months later, the same thing breaks. In the same place, for the same reason.
There is a phrase I use with every client -
You are renting the solution rather than owning it.
Every patch, every workaround, every additional check that exists only to catch what keeps going wrong - that's a rental payment. You are paying for it in time, money and management attention every single month...and you'll keep paying until the root cause is removed.
What it's actually costing
The direct cost is usually visible:
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The indirect cost is where it gets expensive:
None of that appears on a P&L line...all of it is real.
What permanently fixing a problem takes
It takes proper problem definition.
Most businesses move to solution before they have defined the problem accurately, which means the solution addresses a symptom rather than a cause.
It takes data - not opinion, not a well-attended brainstorming session, not a fishbone diagram filled with the most confident voices in the room. Actual evidence of what is happening, where and under what conditions.
It takes time to follow the failure back to its origin rather than to the point where it becomes visible. Those are rarely the same place.
Plus it takes discipline to implement the fix properly rather than applying another patch and calling it progress.
What we leave behind
When we work on a process problem, we do not leave when the symptom stops. We leave when the cause is gone and when the team can see clearly why it has gone and what to do if it ever reappears.
That is the difference between a fix that lasts and a fix that lasts until next quarter.
If you have a recurring problem you are tired of managing, I'm always open to a conversation about what it would actually take to get rid of it.
James Walker this is where most organisations stop too early. They find the root cause… but don’t change the conditions that created it. So the problem returns, just in a slightly different shape. Real improvement isn’t just fixing the issue. It’s redesigning the environment that allowed it to exist: – decision points – ownership – feedback loops – incentives If those stay the same, the outcome will too. That’s why “fixes” don’t hold — but systems do.
It wasn’t fixed. It was patched.” — that’s the reality. This feels like recurring friction being normalized. ⛵ I posted earlier about SailGP—small adjustments outperform brute force—and this reads like the opposite: quick fixes stacking instead of addressing the root cause. In IT, I see this often. Workarounds become the system, and over time they slow everything down. That’s a big focus of mine with Forward Thinking Projects. Where do you see this happen most—process design or ownership of the problem?
Great post. Seen it too often where the quick wins end up costing thousands to correct. Best to do it once and do it right, although there needs to be strong foundations in place for it to be effective and efficient over the long term.
Well illustrated James Walker. Nkgoele nct
This is exactly where many businesses get stuck without realising it. Short-term fixes keep things moving, but over time they quietly become the process - adding layers of complexity, slowing teams down and increasing reliance on key individuals. What looks like “just how things work” is often the result of a root cause that was never fully addressed. Removing that root cause isn’t about working harder - it’s about stepping back, understanding what’s really driving the issue and redesigning the process so the problem can’t return. That’s where sustainable improvement lives: ✔ Less firefighting ✔ More consistency ✔ Teams with the space to focus on what actually matters A really important reminder that fixing and solving are not the same thing.