"Why?" Symptoms vs Problems

Why are customers not responding to my marketing strategy?  Why are my users not using the software I designed?  Why are my employees leaving my company?  Why is my team inefficient?  Why aren't people buying my product or service?

Symptoms to problems are easy to see, therefore they get attention.  If a business isn't using the software developed for them, the solution to the "problem" is often stated as, "They need to use the software."  Well, that may be true but why are they not using it?  Chances are, it does not meet their needs or they haven't been properly trained.  Or the software may meet all of the stated requirements but has a poor usability design so it's perceived as being too complicated, which translates into, again, not meeting their needs (they need a simpler application).  "Simple" is often an overlooked requirement.

Each one of these potential problems has a solution of it's own which will depend largely on the situation.  But the users not using the software is likely a symptom, not a problem. 

Fixing symptoms leads into unending loops and unending loops are expensive.  The only way to get out of the loop is to solve the problem that is causing the symptoms.  Of course it's better to never enter the loop in the first place by understanding the true problem.

So why are these loops entered in the first place?  Here are three reasons:

1. Money.  How often do you see businesses with large bank accounts throwing money at symptoms of a problem rather than solving the actual issue?  Sure, it happens in smaller companies as well but when money is not an issue, spending it is less of an issue so it's easy to throw money at a situation that may not be the real problem.
2. Arrogance and denial.  Yep, arrogance. Maybe you don't want to admit that your design was flawed.  Maybe you don't want to accept that you did not understand your target market.  The sooner you do, the sooner you'll fix your problem and the cheaper it'll be.
3. Internal politics.  If you're trying to implement software or new processes that are designed to resolve the problem as it's been communicated but two executives are debating over the future direction, it can hinder success in the implementation.

The question to keep asking is "Why?"  When you've answered that honestly, you'll be able to fix the real problem.

Comments

[Kim]

Justin this is great. I would add my thoughts under the money bucket that many firms don't spend money on training and communication. (They may have "a" trainer or it may be a part of someone else's job-but depending on size of firm that may not be enough to implement a decent program). Many may not use software because they simply don't understand what/how it benefits them. The business requirements were gathered from one or two people who think its great, but there isn't any communication or training or demo's or inclusion for the rest of the team or firm who need to use the software. And there isn't a culture of training which comes from the top down.