Symptom, problem, cause

Three things that get called "the problem"

Stage 2 of the process is identify and analyse the issues, and its rubric — R-psp-2, a Memra rubric that mirrors the stage criteria the open sources agree on (the official SAF rubrics are not public) — opens with two lines that do most of the work: each issue stated in one sentence with a fact and problem separated from cause (and from symptom). Both depend on one distinction.

• A symptom is what you notice: the complaint, the late job, the falling number on a chart. It is the reason someone asked for help.
• The problem is the gap between an objective and what is actually happening, stated with a number. Objectives were written down in stage 1; the problem is the distance from one of them.
• The cause is why the gap exists. It is what a fix has to act on.

They arrive in the case in the wrong order — symptom first, loudly — and a weak response stops there, listing complaints as "issues". A strong one works backward: from the symptom to the objective it violates (the problem), and from the problem to what produces it (the cause).

Worked example — Lakeshore Print Co.

The brief says jobs are late and two key accounts have complained. That is the symptom: late jobs and complaints — what Priya noticed, what prompted the memo. It is not yet an issue statement, because it names no objective and no number.

The problem is the gap: on-time delivery has fallen from 96 % to 84 %, against the expectation of the three key accounts — $180,000 of revenue at a 42 % margin — that their work arrives on time. That is one sentence with a fact, and it names whose objective is missed.

The cause is why: fourteen breakdowns of a nine-year-old press last year, with repairs rising from $9,000 three years ago to $38,000. Every late job in the log follows a breakdown.

Three sentences, three facts, and notice how each one points at a different stage of the work: the symptom justifies the engagement, the problem sets the target a fix must reach (back to 96 %, or near it), and the cause is what the alternatives in stage 3 will act on.

Separate the three for the clinic

Grand River Family Dental (the practice case from module 4): Tomas says patients are missing appointments and two were double-booked last month. Work it backward. Symptom: missed appointments and the two double-bookings — what Tomas noticed. Problem: about 12 % of booked appointments are not kept, against the dentists' objective of full clinical days; and double-bookings have started, against the front desk's objective of a schedule that is right. Cause: a paper book and a phone line — no reminders reach patients, and one book cannot be checked by two people at once. Two problems, one cause; that is common, and it is why the cause is worth finding.

Now cold

> A Guelph café's Saturday takings have fallen for three months. The owner says "people just aren't coming in like they used to". A new bakery opened two doors down in April, and the café's own bread is now delivered at 10 a.m. rather than 7 a.m. because the supplier changed its route.

Write the three before reading on. Symptom: Saturday takings down three months running; the owner's remark. Problem: Saturday revenue is below the level the café needs (the number the owner's budget assumes — ask for it) for three consecutive months. Cause: two candidates — the new bakery, and no fresh bread until 10 a.m. on the busiest morning. Two rival causes is the normal state of affairs, and the lesson after next is about choosing between them.

Why the distinction pays

A fix aimed at a symptom leaves the cause in place, so the symptom returns — often after money has been spent. Lakeshore could hire a courier to rush late jobs; the press would keep breaking. The café could advertise; the bread would still arrive at ten. The stage-2 rubric marks the separation because the stage-3 alternatives are only as good as the cause they act on.