Dan Markovitz’ The Conclusion Trap is an intentionally fast read - he suggests it is a manifesto on really defining problems. I heard about this book on Mark Graban's LeanBlog podcast, and I knew that it was right up my alley.
Markovitz gives us a straightforward guide to thinking better about "problems." The trap in the title is that we so easily jump to conclusions when we see a problem, which means we are jumping to solutions before truly understanding what is going on. In fact, the first things we see are often symptoms, rather than a problem. Fixing symptoms (like taking aspirin to reduce a fever) doesn’t truly resolve the underlying problem - it’s like playing whack-a-mole. I love that he suggests when your solution involves new tech, more people or a reorganization (or generally throwing money at it) that it is likely that the solution won't remove the problem - and that you probably haven't fully understood the problem to begin with. And there are stories of shiny new technology, reorganization and spending money.
This book doesn't provide solutions. It is a guide to come up with a better understanding of the problem: Get the facts, put them together and think about why this keeps happening. But understanding the problem is really the first step in coming up with better solutions. Understand what to change first, before talking about what to change to or how to cause the change.
One quibble I had is with the fishbone diagram examples. They seemed to be loaded with exactly the thing that he was working against - almost all the “causes” for the head of the fish had to do with "lack of the solution". It would be very easy to see people jump to incorrect solutions from reading these diagrams alone - even if they are created in the process of thinking through the problem more deeply. I suppose this is yet another reminder to always be on the watchout for conclusion-jumping.