Stop Applying Right Solutions to Wrong Problems: Start Building Processes to Address Root Issues Over Symptoms

Fixing a "broken" applicant tracking system sounds like a technology problem until you ask why it's broken in the first place. A framework for separating symptoms from root causes shows how a hiring initiative that started as a tech-repair project turned into something much bigger: teaching franchise owners with no recruiting background how to hire well in the first place.

The approach borrows the double diamond model from UX design, which splits a project into two phases. The first is discovery: asking sharp questions, listening, and mapping what's actually going on without proposing any solutions yet. Only once there's agreement on the real problem does the second phase begin — developing and testing an answer.

Applied inside a multi-brand franchise organization running thousands of salon locations, this process revealed that the technology itself wasn't the core issue. Franchisees and salon managers, most of whom had never recruited before, were being handed applicant tracking tools built for professional recruiters. Testing the actual candidate experience — including having former stylists apply for real openings — turned up an eighty percent drop-off between clicking "apply" and completing the process, a clear sign the tools were too complex for the people meant to use them.

Rather than buy an off-the-shelf fix, the response was to build new technology directly with a cross-section of franchisees at the table, combining applicant tracking with the broader set of tools franchisees needed to hire relationally rather than transactionally.

A few principles run through the work:

• Get it right, not be right — treat problem definition as a group exercise, not a solo judgment call
• Check design bias by asking open-ended questions instead of assuming what "good" looks like based on past experience
• Favor data and direct testing over gut instinct, especially when building for users unlike yourself
• Resist one-size-fits-all fixes; different regions and user groups often need different tools within the same system
• Quit taking feedback personally — critical input during discovery is information, not an attack

The result was technology built less like a single tool and more like a full kit, giving franchisees the right resource for each part of the hiring process rather than a single transactional system stretched to cover needs it was never designed for.