Persistent Problem Investigations

I investigate persistent problems in human-facing services, systems and customer journeys
to establish what is actually causing them.


When The Problem Keeps Coming Back

A Persistent Problem Investigation starts with a defined problem rather than an assumption about what is causing it.

That problem might involve:

  • Complaints or repeat contact about the same issue that do not reduce, however they are handled
  • A problem that has previously been investigated or addressed but continues to happen
  • Customer journeys that work as intended on paper but produce very different experiences in practice
  • Handovers and escalations, between teams or between AI and people, where information, context or responsibility gets lost
  • Staff struggling with a process or quietly finding ways around it
  • Customers having to chase, repeat information or manage work that should sit with the organisation
  • Measures reporting success while customers describe something quite different
  • Conversational AI that works in demonstrations or expected scenarios but breaks down when real conversations leave the anticipated route
  • A service problem where different parts of the organisation have different explanations for what is causing it

You do not need to know what is causing the problem before getting in touch. Establishing that is the point of the investigation.


Following The Evidence, Not The Obvious Explanation

I start with the problem and the underlying evidence, then follow that evidence to establish what is actually happening.

The cause may sit in a process, a system, an AI, a script, the information available to staff or customers, a handover, a measure, a decision made some time ago, or several of those things interacting.

I do not begin by assuming the problem is staff, management, technology, training, policy or the customer.

Depending on the problem, the investigation can involve reconstructing relevant customer or service history, reviewing interactions and other evidence, testing customer journeys and human-facing systems, examining handovers and escalation, talking to relevant people, and comparing what is supposed to happen with what actually happens.

Working as designed does not necessarily mean working as needed.

Where AI is involved, I am less interested in whether it technically functions than in what happens when real people use it, particularly when they disagree, correct it, provide unexpected information, become frustrated or take the conversation outside the anticipated pathway.


What An Investigation Can Include

The work will depend on the problem and the evidence available, but can include:

  • Reviewing relevant complaints, correspondence, interactions, tickets or other records
  • Reconstructing customer or service histories to understand how a problem developed
  • Identifying recurring patterns, contradictions and accumulated failures
  • Examining repeat contact, customer effort, failed handovers and unresolved issues
  • Comparing intended processes and outcomes with what actually happens
  • Testing human-facing systems and customer journeys where this would help establish what is happening
  • Examining interactions with conversational AI and how systems respond when conversations move outside expected pathways
  • Tracing discrepancies through relevant processes, people, technology, information, measures and decisions
  • Testing possible explanations against the available evidence rather than accepting the first plausible cause
  • Identifying where the evidence supports a conclusion and where something cannot yet be established

The investigation is shaped by the problem. It is not a standard checklist applied regardless of what the evidence shows.


What You Receive

You receive a written findings report setting out what the evidence establishes, what is strongly indicated, any possible contributing factors that cannot be established conclusively, and the consequences of the problem.

Where something material could not be assessed because the necessary evidence or access was unavailable, that will be made clear rather than filled with assumption.

The report will also set out proportionate recommendations based on the findings and what needs to change.

We then go through the findings together in a presentation and discussion session, where you can question the conclusions, provide genuinely new information and discuss the implications.

Where appropriate, changes can be retested separately after implementation to establish whether they have actually altered the outcome.


Independent Diagnosis, Separate From The Fix

I do not implement the changes I recommend.

Your existing teams, developers, suppliers or other specialists can do that.

Keeping the investigation separate from implementation means the findings are not shaped by what I might subsequently be able to sell you. I have no reason to conclude that you need a new system, a training programme, a technology rebuild or months of additional consultancy unless the evidence actually points in that direction.

The purpose of the investigation is to establish what needs to change, not to manufacture the next piece of work.


A Focused Investigation, Not Necessarily An Organisation-Wide Review

Persistent Problem Investigations are for organisations dealing with a persistent or significant problem in a human-facing service, system or customer journey where:

  • The cause is not clear
  • Previous attempts to resolve it have not worked
  • Different explanations exist for what is going wrong
  • The visible problem may be a symptom of something happening elsewhere
  • An independent investigation would help establish what needs to change

An investigation can focus on a defined problem, service, customer journey, support operation or human-facing AI system. It does not require an organisation-wide review.

If the evidence indicates that a material cause sits outside the agreed scope, I will identify that in the findings. Any additional investigation can then be considered and agreed separately.


What This Work Does Not Cover

Persistent Problem Investigations are diagnostic investigations of human-facing services and systems.

They are not legal advice, regulatory or compliance assessments, technical security or penetration testing, formal policy audits or HR misconduct investigations.

The investigation may consider relevant policies, procedures or organisational requirements where they help explain what happened, but it does not provide legal or regulatory conclusions.


About Me

I have more than 25 years’ professional experience in human behaviour, communication and complex human interactions.

That background has required me to work with detailed and sometimes conflicting information, distinguish what is known from what is assumed or interpreted, identify patterns that may not be obvious when events are considered separately, and question explanations that do not adequately account for the evidence.

More recently, I have combined that experience with designing, building and extensively testing conversational AI Digital Partners through MindMotive AI. This includes adversarial and off-pathway testing, examining how systems respond to correction, disagreement, ambiguity and changing context, and identifying failures that may not appear during expected use.

The way I approach persistent service problems predates my work with AI. Problems I have identified and pursued have led to documented changes within an NHS trust, a police force and a national charity.


Timescales And Fees

Most defined investigations take around two to four weeks once the necessary access and information are available.

Work is priced according to scope and complexity rather than by the day.

A tightly defined investigation may start at around £5,000. More substantive investigations commonly fall around £7,500–£10,000, with more complex work at £12,500+.

Larger or cross-organisational investigations are scoped separately.

The problem, scope, required access, deliverables and price are agreed before the investigation begins.


Persistent Service Problems

I also write about the patterns behind persistent service problems: why complaints keep returning, why actions can be completed without changing the outcome, how customer effort accumulates, and where apparently separate failures may connect.

You can find more articles about the patterns behind persistent service problems, why fixes do not always stick, and where failures may actually begin in Persistent Service Problems.


Is There A Problem You Cannot Quite Explain?

If you know something is going wrong but do not yet know why, we can start with an initial conversation about what is happening and whether a Persistent Problem Investigation would be appropriate.

Email team@mindmotive.co.uk.