Stop Solving. My book, the workbook, and what I speak about.
Slow the judgment, discover the real issue, speed up the result. In Stop Solving I describe the method so that teams can apply it without me, and I set my own claims beside the research literature, including where it argues against them. The workbook is the practice and the how: five issues, from the Team Pulse to the Team Pitstop. With a foreword by Dr. Michael J. Marquardt, Professor Emeritus and co-founder of the World Institute for Action Learning.
Stop Solving is the English edition of Stop met oplossen, translated from the Dutch by the author, with Claude Fable 5.1 (Anthropic) and DeepL. The Dutch book and workbook are published on November 10, 2026 by Brave New Books (ships worldwide from the Netherlands), as paperback and e-book, and are also available at bol.com and through bookshops. Stop met oplossen: ISBN paperback 9789465542331, ISBN e-book 9789465547251. Stop met oplossen – Werkboek: ISBN 9789465546995. The English edition follows as paperback and e-book; this page will carry the order links, including Amazon, as soon as it is available.
The book
The workbook
What readers say about it
I recommend it to any leader or coach who has watched the same issue return to the agenda quarter after quarter.Dr. Michael J. Marquardt, Professor Emeritus, George Washington University, co-founder of the World Institute for Action Learning (WIAL), author of dozens of books
Stop Solving shows that better results begin not with quick answers but with better questions. A clear, practical, and valuable process for tackling issues at their root.Hans van der Loo, author of Teaming and Samen safe, among other books
In healthcare and beyond, I see how often organizations reach for solutions before the issue is clear. This is a directly applicable method that leads, in a well-considered way, to more ownership and lasting results. A book that should be required reading for executives and supervisory board members.Trudy Prins, executive and supervisory board member
Frank Campman is an expert in it by experience. He reflects on what he does, and so he knows what he is talking about. And it is clearly written, too. Warmly recommended.Prof. Gert Jan Hofstede, Wageningen University & Research, co-author of Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind
The greatest added value of Issue-Focused Working lies not in finding answers faster but in strengthening a team’s capacity to learn.Maarten Heisen, manager of care, treatment, and innovation, Amaliazorg
The book: for two readers
The manager who recognizes that the same topic returns quarter after quarter, and wants to know why that happens and what changes when a team learns to work issue-focused. And the trainer-coach who wants to facilitate this, with the skills, the four dials, and, in Part V and Appendix A, one exercise per step; the fillable worksheets are in the workbook. Running through the whole book is the case of the Lindehoven Care Group, composed from my practice-based research, with care manager Ingrid Bosman as guide.
| Part I | The issue: why teams get stuck on symptoms, and what the method is and is not. |
| Part II | The method: the eight steps, picture-forming before opinion-forming, judgment-free questioning, ownership, from complaint to the real problem. |
| Part III | What it delivers and what it asks: governance grip, the yield as a direction, tailoring and limits, and what AI strengthens and never decides. |
| Part IV | The test: traditions and science. |
| Part V | Facilitating it yourself: the development path, the four dials, what it takes to do this yourself. |
| Closing | The Current Shared Picture of this book, from this book to your team, and taking Issue-Focused Working further. Then: frequently asked questions, glossary, and three appendices (one exercise per step; the claims and their test; how the method relates to other approaches). |
The workbook: on the table, during the session
The workbook works when it is on the table. You bring it to every session and write in it while you talk. Above every box it says whether you write alone, in silence, or together. Preferably every team member has a copy of their own: you do the method together, the notes are personal.
| Start here | How the workbook works, the method in brief, the ground rules, the route, and the choice: on paper or digitally with Metis. |
| The kickoff day | Check-in, getting to know each other better, the Team Pulse, and the team’s issue list. |
| Five issues | For each issue the Current Shared Picture up front, steps 2 through 7, Team Pitstop 1 through 4, and the final reflection. |
| Reference | Question types, questions per step, sample agendas, the team’s rhythm, the five frustrations of teamwork. |
The CSP template, the Team Pulse, and the interrelationship diagram from the workbook can be downloaded separately and free of charge. Have you read the book? Let me know what you think of it; responses count toward the next edition.
As a speaker: why teams keep getting stuck on symptoms
Besides being a trainer-coach, I am available as a speaker, for management and policy teams, conferences, and sector associations, in healthcare and education and beyond, in English or in Dutch. On the same subject my book describes: why the same problem returns quarter after quarter, and how a different order, first making the issue sharp, breaks that pattern. A talk builds on more than 500 facilitated team sessions, not on theory alone, and suits organizations that want to understand why their own structures sometimes keep this pattern in place.
Topics
- Stop solving. Why teams solve before they understand, and what the fixed order from picture to decision changes.
- Governance grip without extra reporting. How the key points of several teams together show a pattern no report can show, and why that is a signal and not a judgment.
- What AI strengthens, and what it never decides. Metis as process facilitator: what an AI can guard in a team process, and where the limit lies.
- The article series. Eleven articles accompanying the book, weekly on LinkedIn and here on the site; each article is also a one-hour talk. All articles.
Formats
- Interactive talk. That puts the thinking on the table in your organization; the audience does some picture-forming itself.
- Workshop. A team goes through the first steps on an issue of its own, in one half-day.
- Book presentation or conversation with the author. For a management team or a reading group that has read the book.
Articles accompanying the book
A series of eleven articles accompanies Stop Solving. One appears every week, on LinkedIn and here. The three most recent:
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Citing and passing it on
Quoting, citing, or building on the content is expressly permitted, provided the source is cited correctly: Campman, F. (2026) Stop Solving: Slow the judgment, discover the real issue, speed up the result. Duiven: Vraagstukgerichtwerken.com. As a short reference in a text: (Campman, 2026, Stop Solving). The same goes for the articles and the texts on this website: they come from the book, so refer to the book, not to the article or the page. Does a colleague or client work with the same issues? Point them to the book, or give a copy as a gift. Available through Brave New Books and bol.com, as paperback and e-book.