problem definition

04 cannot solve what we don't know

why does a definitive problem definition matter

If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions
– Albert Einstein

Now that we have had opportunities to know about our target user, we have understood their pains and their goals, it is time to define the problems we want to solve. There is a process to the madness and it is better to follow a methodology so we can articulate the problem we want to solve clearly. The outcome of these problem definitions will feed into the ideation stage.

01 not to think of a solution

When we get into the process of problem definition, we want to focus on the user and the problem. More often than not, as a development team or as a stakeholder we have a tendency to suggest or bake in solutions at this stage.

Let us be mindful and remind ourselves not to do that!

02 why to define the problem

The main reasons we may want to make sure we understand the problem we are trying to solve are:

to pinpoint what is the problem we are solving for, I like to call it the nucleus
to remove noise, what are we not solving for
helps breakdown the bigger problem into smaller discrete problems so you can prioritise
to focus on USER – GOAL – NEED

03 problem definition template

there are quite a few problem definition templates that are available and used by various people.

A [user role] who feels [negative feeling] about [reason] needs to [step] but [faces obstacle] .. read more about it in the article below

stakeholder [person using empathetic language] NEEDS A WAY TO [needs are verbs] BECAUSE [insights, what we have learnt about the user and his/her goals]

another way of writing the problem statements is [who is the user][wants to do this] but cannot [because] hence our solution [should enable]

04 prioritise the problems

after we have a set of problems that we have identified, we should be in a position to prioritise which ones are most valuable to our users so we can start with them as part of our MVP. Prioritising the backlog through such collaborative and data driven approach helps stakeholders to be in alignment and focus.