There are times when an area of the business has problems but that team does not want to address the underlying issue. They fix the problem for that one instance, but do nothing to keep it from happening again.
These situations are frustrating because their unwillingness to do the deeper work almost guarantees that I will be pulled back into their whirlpool of problems in the future.
Why does this happen?
Sometimes teams are institutionally lazy. They have done enough to get through today’s fire and have little time or incentive to prevent tomorrow’s. Other times, they simply do not know that they should be more rigorous in how they solve problems. The immediate issue is resolved, so everyone moves on.
Whatever the reason, recurring problems rarely disappear on their own.
When you find yourself in this situation, there are only a handful of things you can do.
You can let it be and accept that you cannot solve everyone else’s problems for them.
Or you can escalate. Escalation is inherently political because it can create friction with people in that organization. You may improve the process, but you may also damage relationships that you will need in the future.
Neither option is ideal. One of the hardest lessons at work is learning that you are responsible for solving problems in your domain, but you are rarely empowered to solve every problem that affects you.