Get The Diagnosis Right

I had two separate conversations with two colleagues today and ended up saying the same thing to both.

If the diagnosis is wrong, the treatment will be wrong too.

We spend most of our energy on the treatment. What should we do? What’s the fix? What’s the plan? But the treatment is usually the easy part. It becomes obvious once the diagnosis is right. The hard part, the part we rush through, is getting the diagnosis right in the first place.

Take a product that isn’t scaling. The quick diagnosis is that there’s no product-market fit, so the treatment is to shut it down. But what if the real issue is that the team responsible did a shoddy job of building and delivering it? Then the treatment isn’t shutting it down. It’s upgrading the team. Same symptom. Completely different cure.

It plays out in life too. A friend ignores you, and you read it as an insult. The reality might be that he’s quietly going through a loss you know nothing about.

Most of the time, none of us know the full story.

So before you jump to the cure, slow down on the cause. Spend the time. Ask the harder questions. Get the diagnosis right.

The treatment almost always is the easy part.