You've noticed it before. The diet works — then it doesn't. The team reorganises — then the same problems resurface. The city builds more roads — then traffic gets worse.

We're taught to ask: "What caused this?" Find the cause, fix the cause, problem solved.

But for many of the most persistent problems in life, that question leads nowhere useful. Because the problem doesn't have a cause. It has a structure — a set of interconnected parts that keep producing the same outcome, over and over, even when individuals change, policies change, and intentions change.