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We live in a world riddled with problems. That is just life — it is messy and unpredictable. Yet, how we view our problems is a choice: For some, problems are challenges; for others, problems are opportunities. We define our problems, or our problems define us. But defining a problem is easier said than done. It takes humility, grace, care, and hope. We must be humble enough to understand that we don’t know everything and seek help; grace-filled enough to accept that we are all flawed and should give grace to receive grace; care enough to introspect, self-reflect, listen, and empathize with others’ pain points, needs, and desires; and hope enough to believe in the process — understanding that life is a journey, not a sprint, and we are constantly growing and learning.

Like life, the business world is no different. These four elements are evident in the innovation design process. It is one of the reasons why the Design Thinking process begins with empathy, not the defining phase: It takes humility to understand that there is a gap between our current and desired state. Grace to accept that our current product or service may have flaws; care to listen intently to understand the customers’ pains, needs, and motivations and to introspect on our innovation culture, capabilities, resources, and strategy required to serve; and hope, to begin the process of defining the problem, knowing it will be iterative. Without humility, grace is absent, and empathy cannot flourish; without empathy, design cannot exist.

When done correctly, a well-defined business problem can provide a competitive advantage: not only for the strategic possibilities generated but for the explorative opportunity that the process of defining a problem cultivates, allowing us to see the underlying, often deep-rooted issues driving the surface problems; without which, we probably will design for symptoms — constantly putting out flames rather than fires. There are four steps required to define a problem effectively.

1. Identify key stakeholders and subject matter experts (SMEs) to gain buy-in for project initiation. When I start a new project, I find it helpful to discuss the project’s domain and scope, learn about the company’s process and winning aspiration, and identify the key stakeholders who need to be involved in the design process. At times, stakeholders may request to copy someone on all email correspondence or include another person in meetings, even if they cannot attend. I take this as a positive sign, indicating their interest and desire to be informed throughout the project. However, their preferences may change later, and they may prefer less frequent communication, which is perfectly fine.

2. Conduct qualitative user research to identify the job-to-be done and gain in-depth insight into the customer: understand who the target customer is; what are their pain points; and what are their motivations, needs, and end-goals for using your product or service, for using those of competitors, or for using those of substitutes. In his article, “Strategy as Problem Solving,” Professor Roger Martin emphasizes the importance of interviewing existing customers, customers of competitors, and even those who choose to do without (Martin, 2020).

“Interview some existing customers, some customers of your competitors, and some customers of substitutes (including the substitute of doing without…” — Roger Martin

In the initial stage of problem definition, qualitative research methods such as interviews and observations are preferred. At this phase, quantitative user research is hardly necessary. However, the research method chosen ultimately depends on the research objectives, scope, and research questions. It’s important to note that research questions are not the same as interview questions. While research questions are the questions we seek to answer during research, interview questions are the questions we ask the interviewee.

Finally, according to the Nielsen Norman group (Rosala, 2021), conduct the user interview with 5 to 8 targeted users and continuously analyze your interviews until you reach theme saturation. Tools, such as an empathy map, can collate your interview insights on what the customer said, thought, did, and felt. Like life, understanding “why” sometimes requires multiple conversations. That is perfectly fine. User research is iterative.

3. Gather stakeholders’ inputs. Encouraging stakeholder input while conducting research can help gain their support for the chosen research method and questions. This approach can also help in clarifying the reasons for using one research method over another. However, the objective should not be to please a particular stakeholder but to seek their feedback, insights, and cues about how the research questions align with the winning aspirations.

In addition, interviewing key stakeholders and SMEs can provide additional insights and findings about the competitors, customers, and company. For instance, during stakeholder interviews, you may learn about past data from focus groups on the domain, which can help you shape your research. While meeting with internal stakeholders, it’s important to inquire about their opinions on the problem, why they think it is a problem, and how they propose to solve it. Further probing to understand their proposed solutions can lead to new insights into what would have to be true for the problems to be resolved.

4. Sort and cluster the strategic problems into different themes; prioritize the theme to focus on; and frame the question. When tackling complex problems, it’s crucial to prioritize and focus on solving one strategic problem at a time. Attempting to solve everything at once is often ineffective and inefficient. One effective way of approaching this is through thematic analysis, using tools like affinity maps to sort and cluster problems into themes.

There are several methods for framing a question, such as 5W1H and HMW. However, it’s important to remember that the goal of defining the problem is not to come up with a solution, but to accurately define the problem itself. The problem statement should not include any disguised solutions but rather focus on the specific customer-centric challenge faced by the company for a particular segment of customers with specific needs and wants. The problem statement should also be tied to the winning aspiration of the company to be competitive against its rivals.

Bibliography

Martin, R. (2020, November 2). Strategy as Problem-Solving. Retrieved from Medium: https://rogermartin.medium.com/strategy-as-problem-solving-5c6fb9291d87

Rosala, M. (2021, October 31). How Many Participants for a UX Interview? Retrieved from Nielsen Norman Group: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/interview-sample-size/