THE QUESTION
Why does a steady life take more than it used to?
Propose what to do, then judge whether each action would move each root.
Sealed 20 days ago: this room no longer knows who sat in it; only its steward is still named. What it concluded stays.
30 at the table (29 simulated) · 3 actions proposed against 6 root causes. Add one, then judge whether each action moves each cause.
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Some claims influence each other in a circle
↺ Energy, rent and insurance tripled and the inv → Assets rose faster than wages for four decades → Every cost that rose was passed to us and coul
A circle can be a real finding — a cycle that feeds itself — or a link whose direction was never really settled. The map treats the group as one node, so nothing inside it is a root on its own. If it is the second, the pair is worth putting back to the room.Score the roots first
why
The method's own practice, before any action is proposed: each root cause is scored 1–5 on how feasible it is to address, how much impact addressing it would have, and how likely it is to resolve by itself with no intervention. Priority goes to roots with high impact, high feasibility and low likelihood of fixing themselves — priority = impact + feasibility − likelihood. Scores are averaged across the group and shown with how many scored.
1 = low, 5 = high. Your own scores; the group's averages beside them.
| root cause | feasible | impact | fixes itself | priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A large competitor can absorb a regulation that would close us | – | – | – | – |
| Employers' taxes are charged on the person, so people are the thing to cut | – | – | – | – |
| The rules make dismissal costly, so we do not hire in the first place | – | – | – | – |
| Every new rule consolidates the market a little more | – | – | – | – |
| A machine is a capital allowance and a worker is a liability | – | – | – | – |
| Hiring someone permanently now feels like signing a mortgage | – | – | – | – |
Would each action move each root cause?
Down the side: the actions people proposed. Across the top: the root causes the map found. Every square is one vote on one question — would this action significantly reduce that cause? One side has to reach 75% of the votes cast to settle it; short of that the square stays split. Each square shows how its votes fell — yes / worse / no — and a square is settled when one of those reaches three quarters of them.
why
Answered at 75% of votes cast, like every other question here. Split means people voted and neither side reached that bar — it is a result, not a queue, and it stays split until enough people change their minds. A square nobody settles stays undecided; it never turns into a no. Judging each pair on its own is what stops a popular action being credited with fixing things it does not touch.
| ACTION | ROOT CAUSES · does the action on the left reduce it? | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A large competitor can absorb a regulation that would close us | Employers' taxes are charged on the person, so people are the thing to cut | The rules make dismissal costly, so we do not hire in the first place | Every new rule consolidates the market a little more | A machine is a capital allowance and a worker is a liability | Hiring someone permanently now feels like signing a mortgage | |
| Scale compliance to the size of the firm discuss | ✗ no, it does not 1 yes / 0 worse / 28 no | not decided yet | ✗ no, it does not 3 yes / 0 worse / 26 no | not decided yet | not decided yet | not decided yet |
| Enforce payment terms on large buyers discuss | ✓ yes, it reduces this 23 yes / 0 worse / 6 no | not decided yet | ✗ no, it does not 0 yes / 0 worse / 29 no | not decided yet | not decided yet | not decided yet |
| Tax people and machines on the same basis discuss | ✗ no, it does not 6 yes / 0 worse / 23 no | not decided yet | ✗ no, it does not 2 yes / 0 worse / 27 no | not decided yet | not decided yet | not decided yet |
Highest leverage so far
Enforce payment terms on large buyers reduces 1 of 6 root causes
THE ACTIONS ON THE MAP
Showing every action the room judged: it acts directly on 1 of the 6 root causes. It does not act directly on 5.
Read from the squares the room settled at Actions, nothing else. A root in green is reduced by at least one of the shown actions; in grey, none of them acts on it directly; a red outline means one of them makes it worse.
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Each number on the map marks a root cause that action reduces.
① Scale compliance to the size of the firm
② Enforce payment terms on large buyers
③ Tax people and machines on the same basis
What we expect to follow
Predictions about the actions: what each should change, how to measure it, and when to check. On the date, someone who was in the room writes what actually happened beside it.
why
A map says which actions move which causes. It does not say whether anyone did them, or whether anything changed. An entry here is a prediction with a date and something to measure, written after the map settled. When the date comes, what actually happened is written beside it and the prediction stays as it was: a wrong one is the useful kind. Nobody voted on any of this and it changes nothing the room found.
due 22 Jun 2027
actionEnforce payment terms on large buyers
we expecta small firm can plan on being paid when it was promised
measured by% of invoices from large buyers paid within terms
guessesthe room: 60 (median of 15, spread 35 to 85)