Stop Solving. The book, and the workbook you do it with.
Slow the judgment. Discover the real issue. Speed up the result. The book describes the method so that teams can apply it without the author, and sets its own claims beside the research literature, including where the literature argues against them. The workbook is the practice and the how: five issues from Team Pulse to Team Pitstop, with the Current Shared Picture and reference material.
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. The English edition follows as paperback and e-book; this page will carry the order links, including Amazon, as soon as it is available. Stop Solving: Workbook will be published as an e-book.
The book
The workbook
Where the method comes from
Issue-Focused Working (VGW, from the Dutch Vraagstukgericht Werken) was developed by Frank Campman. Not an invented method, but a grown one: three and a half years of practice-based research in long-term care, in more than five hundred team sessions in the Dutch long-term care sector. What worked in those sessions was brought together; what did not work was left out. The method fits all sectors, for teams that want to work on their own issues together; certified partners facilitate teams in their own sector and region.
Along the way a second journey was added: the better part of a year learning what AI can do, and how to set it up so that it supports a process instead of taking it over. Out of that came Vraagstuk Studio, with Metis as facilitator. Frank Campman has licensed Vraagstuk Studio BV to turn the method into Metis.
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 themselves, with the skills, the four dials, and appendix A with one exercise per step in part V; the fillable worksheets are in the workbook.
| 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, asking without judgment, ownership, from complaint to the real problem. |
| Part III | What it delivers and what it asks: executive grip, the results 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 VGW further. Then: frequently asked questions, glossary, and three appendices (one exercise per step; the claims and their test; where the method stands in relation to others). |
Running through the whole book is the storyline of Lindehoven Care Group, a composite case from the practice-based research, with care manager Ingrid Bosman as guide.
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. At every step you first read what to do, then you write. Above every box it says whether you write alone, in silence, or together.
| 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 at the front, steps 2 through 7, Team Pitstops 1 through 4, and the final reflection. |
| Reference | Question types, questions per step, sample agendas, the team’s rhythm, the five dysfunctions of a team. |
Preferably every team member has their own copy: you do the method together, but the notes and worksheets are personal. The CSP template, the Team Pulse, and the interrelationship diagram from the workbook can also be downloaded separately.
Praise for Stop Solving
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
How an issue begins in practice
A fragment from the composite case. Lindehoven Care Group is a fictional healthcare organization; the steps are the same in every sector.
The issue, in the team’s own words: “There are too few shared working agreements in our team.” In three months, a new colleague received three different instructions from three different colleagues. A list of working agreements already existed: everyone thought it was fine, nobody used it. Care manager Ingrid Bosman noticed that her own solutions had become part of the pattern.From Stop Solving, chapters 1 and 3
What Ingrid then did differently, what the team decided for itself, and why, in another team in the same case, one sentence on an action list later did more than the agreement itself, you read in the book.
After the book
The book ends with your own HPID: what is going on for you, and which step do you take first? What fits next depends on where your team stands: the reflection tools to measure where you are, the workbook, facilitation by a certified trainer-coach, Metis, or the training program to learn to facilitate it yourself.
Quoting and passing it on
Quoting from, citing, or building on the content is expressly permitted, provided the source is properly credited: 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 texts on this website and the articles that accompany the book: refer to the book. Does a colleague or client work with the same issues? Point them to the book, or give a copy as a gift.
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