What’s the problem to be solved?
Weekly musings about life as a PM
A few months ago, we launched a new internal product. Like with most new products, we had our fair share of issues and feedback from teams on the ground. Human nature is to come up with solutions to problems and we received a lot of solutions. Whilst it was great that everyone was so helpful in coming up with solutions, we weren’t sure if we were really solving their actual problems. We were struggling with figuring out the problems to be solved.
If this resonates with you, consider using the following:
- Do I know how to distill the problem to be solved? If not, how do I train myself?
- Are there frameworks that can be utilized to guide conversations with others?
1. Do I know how to distill the problem to be solved? If not, how do I train myself?
If you’re having trouble distilling the problem to be solved, consider reading up on the 5 Whys technique. Prepping and knowing the right questions to ask prior to a meeting is important but they’re often insufficient. There’s only so much prep work that you can do. The 5 Whys technique is an example of a technique that provides a structure to help guide your line of questioning. This in turn allows you to drill down the problem to be solved without knowing all the questions to ask prior.
2. Are there frameworks that can be utilized to guide conversations with others?
Mastering the technique to distill the problem to be solved may not always be sufficient. Employing other frameworks to guide conversations with others or helping them focus on the problem to be solved is just as powerful. One such framework that I’ve tried using is the POPCORN flow by Claudio Perrone. By starting off with the problem at hand and giving everyone to also offer options to explore ensures that the team focuses on the problem while giving everyone a chance to offer their own solutions. By putting them as options rather than solutions, the team has the flexibility to explore other options before committing to an experiment to try.
You know that you’re making headway when others on the team start asking about the problem to be solved.
