Barbara Wittmann leads the Digital Wisdom Collective, where timeless wisdom meets modern tech. Transforming how leaders innovate.
This weekend, we turned on our garden sprinklers for the first time this season. As with almost every spring over the past seven years, a mysterious wet patch appeared on the lawn. Without missing a beat—aside from a few choice words—my husband launched into action. He found the leak, dug the hole, patched the pipe and emerged muddy and triumphant, convinced that this time the problem was finally solved.
Except, of course, it wasn’t. Next spring, he’ll likely do it again: another leak, another $500, another Saturday lost to shoveling. It’s become a seasonal ritual. The same problem, the same response.
Watching him this time, I had a moment of clarity—not about our irrigation system, but about how so many of my clients approach business process problems.
Over and over, I see companies fall into the same trap: A process fails, and the same people, those who know the history, are brought in to fix it. Expensive consultants are then hired to assist or install new “leak detection” tools. A patch is applied. Everyone moves on, hopeful.
But the root cause is never addressed. Because nobody dares ask the bigger question: What if the system itself is the problem?
Why We Keep Patching Instead Of Rethinking
The truth is that most companies don’t want to keep fixing broken systems. But they’re stuck in an outdated mindset. They assume change means pain: expensive transitions, destroyed workflows and long, ugly “in-between” periods.
That’s exactly what we believed about our sprinkler system—until last year when we discovered something shocking: There are now above-ground solutions. They’re app-controlled, precisely targeted and even fertilize the lawn. No digging. No mess. No long recovery period. You simply retire the old system and plug in the new.
It made me wonder: How many organizations are clinging to underground pipes when the smarter solution is already above ground?
The Real Barrier To Innovation: Mindset
In my 25 years fixing broken IT projects and transformation efforts, I’ve learned that companies don’t tend to fail at change because they lack knowledge, tools or frameworks. They fail because they hold limiting beliefs.
Here are a few I hear often:
• “We’ve always done it this way.”
• “Our system is too complex to replace.”
• “Change is hard and expensive.”
• “We can’t afford to disrupt operations.”
But what if those assumptions are wrong? What if the real cost is in not changing? And here’s another overlooked truth: The answers are often already in the room.
Too often, companies default to bringing in outside experts. But if you want to truly redesign a broken process, start by bringing together your internal domain experts—the people who use that process every day—and pair them with IT. Then listen. Really listen. You might be surprised by how clear the solution becomes when the right people are finally talking to each other.
Three Takeaways For Leaders Ready To Reimagine
1. Stop fixing and start rethinking. If the same issue keeps surfacing, it’s a system problem. Don’t just assign the usual suspects to fix it. Ask: Is there a fundamentally better way to approach this?
2. Start with the people closest to the problem. Your power users and process owners hold vital insight. When paired with IT and given space to collaborate, they can co-create smarter, simpler solutions.
3. Adopt a mindset of ease. Not all change is painful. Sometimes, the new solution is simpler, cheaper and more elegant than you ever imagined—if you allow yourself to look beyond what’s always been.
If there’s one shift I encourage every leader to make, it’s this: Stop assuming the hard way is the only way.
Let go of the need to dig one more hole. Maybe it’s time to retire the system altogether—and discover what’s already possible above ground.
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