Sounds like a simple question, with perhaps an obvious answer. How often do you implement a solution, only to discover a few weeks later, or months, that the problem has not gone away?
A reason for this happening is our tendency to define a problem as a symptom. For example, we may express our frustration by saying…”this system is so slow, and is taking too long…”. If we keep following this train of thought, we end of defining our problem as, “The system is bad”. This way of thinking will lead to the obvious solution of finding a better system to use.
But is the system actually a problem? Does it ALWAYS take a long time, and do you have evidence to show that its a problem? And who says its a problem? Does the system / process actually need to be faster, or are you just having a bad day!!?! The problem may simply be “operator error”.
This article describes it well.
Next time you are trying to solve a problem, be the one in the meeting who pauses and says, “What problem are we trying to solve”. Then ask it again…