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Problem Description (Living Document)

Created: YYYY-MM-DD Last Updated: YYYY-MM-DD Current Status: [Investigating | Resolved | Abandoned]

Current Understanding​

[This section is updated as understanding evolves]

Root Cause (Current Belief): [One paragraph: what we currently believe is causing the problem]

Confidence Level: [Low | Medium | High]

Evidence:

  • [Evidence point 1]
  • [Evidence point 2]

Last Updated: YYYY-MM-DD (Belief Shift #N)

Problem Statement​

Symptom: [What users/developers observe]

Impact:

  • [Who is affected]
  • [Severity level]
  • [Business/technical impact]

Scope:

  • [What's included in this investigation]
  • [What's explicitly excluded]

Initial Hypothesis​

[What we first believed was the cause]

Tested in:

Result: [Initial hypothesis proved incorrect/incomplete because...]

Evolution of Understanding​

[Links to belief shifts - see analysis/root-cause-evolution.md for details]

  • Belief Shift #[ID] (YYYY-MM-DD): [Old belief] → [New belief]

Current Investigation Focus​

Active Hypotheses:

  1. [Hypothesis 1] — Testing in Attempt NNN
  2. [Hypothesis 2] — Next if #[ID] fails

Unanswered Questions:

  • [Question 1]
  • [Question 2]

Blocked Items:

  • [What's blocking progress]
  • [Dependencies needed]

Success Criteria​

[How we'll know this is resolved]

  1. [Criterion 1]
  2. [Criterion 2]
  3. [Criterion 3]

Validation: [How to verify resolution]

Update History:

  • YYYY-MM-DD: Initial description
  • YYYY-MM-DD: Updated after Belief Shift #[ID]
  • YYYY-MM-DD: Updated after Belief Shift #[ID]