intermediate · 150–165 min
The same problem keeps coming back no matter how often we fix it
A problem shows up. Someone applies the fix that worked last time. It goes away for a few weeks, then it is back, often a little worse. The team has done this three or four times and each round costs more time and more patience. Nobody has looked at what the fix itself does to the system after it is applied.
About this session
This session is for a team that owns a problem which has come back at least three times after being fixed. Six to twelve people who work in the problem every week take part, plus one sponsor who can name an owner. The room leaves with a behaviour-over-time graph, a shared Fixes that Fail map, one chosen leverage point, and one intervention card with an owner, a start date and a check date within 30 days. Use it when the last three fixes were the same fix, or larger versions of the same fix. Do not use it for a problem that happened once, for a problem with an obvious missing resource, or when the people who can change the rules are not in the room. Do not use it as a blame session; the map holds the structure, not the person who applied the fix. Run it in person on a wall, or online on a shared board with the same sheets.
Why it works
Most teams treat a recurring problem as a series of separate incidents. Each time it appears, someone applies the fix that worked last time. The symptom drops, the pressure goes, and attention moves on. The fix is never questioned because it works, briefly. The Fixes that Fail archetype names what the map in step 3 makes visible: the fix has a side effect that returns after a delay and feeds the original symptom. Mapping shows this, but a map on its own changes nothing. Groups that stop at the map feel understanding and go back to the old fix the following week. This session stops that in two ways. The behaviour-over-time graph forces the room to look at what happened after each fix instead of debating causes from memory. The leverage grid then rules out the fix itself and every larger version of it, so the room has to act at a level above the parameters it usually tweaks. Donella Meadows ranked those levels; the grid uses her ordering with a control filter so the chosen point is reachable within 30 days. Finally, the owner and dates are set in the room, with a named person who checks. That last step is what turns understanding into a changed loop.
What you’ll walk away with
- A behaviour-over-time graph with every fix moment marked
- One shared Fixes that Fail map with at most six variables and two loops
- One chosen leverage point, labelled with the level it acts on
- One intervention card with a single measure and a check date within 30 days
- A named owner, a start date within 7 days, and a stop-doing list
Who it’s for
Team leads, Operations managers, Internal facilitators, Programme managers
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