Debugging software has a discipline most businesses never apply to themselves: don't fix the symptom you can see, trace it back to the cause that's actually producing it. Business problems get treated the opposite way constantly, and the fixes don't stick because of it.
What symptom-fixing looks like in a business
Sales are down, so a discount goes out. The discount lifts sales temporarily, the underlying reason they were down (a positioning problem, a competitor's new offer, a broken onboarding step) never gets addressed, and the same slump returns a quarter later, usually worse, because now discounting has trained customers to wait for one.
The debugging discipline, applied
In software, a bug that keeps recurring after a quick patch means the patch addressed a symptom, not the cause. The same logic applies directly: a business problem that keeps recurring after a fix means the fix was aimed at the visible symptom, not whatever's actually generating it.
How to actually trace it back
Ask "why" repeatedly, genuinely, not just for show, past the first comfortable answer. Sales are down, why. Fewer leads converting, why. Leads are colder than before, why. Marketing changed channels last quarter. Now the actual root is visible, and it's nowhere near "offer a discount," it's "the new channel brings lower-intent leads." That's a completely different fix.
Why this discipline is uncomfortable
The root cause is usually further from the visible symptom, and often further from the department that noticed the symptom in the first place. Sales notices the drop. Marketing caused it. That cross-department attribution is uncomfortable, and it's frequently where the actual fix lives, not in the department that raised the alarm.
The practical habit
Before approving any fix, ask whether it addresses the thing you can see, or the thing actually producing it. If you can't answer that with confidence, you haven't traced far enough yet.