How To Solve Problems Like A Product Manager

Problem-solving isn't a talent limited to the lucky few. It's actually a skill and a habit that you can Learn. The most fundamental skill for any tech role is the ability to problem-solve effectively. Because tech companies in general scale rapidly, and hence the need to solve new and challenging problems quickly and effectively is highly desired.

Now, there are a lot of frameworks to solve problems effectively, we will however focus on absolute fundamentals. Let’s get started.

To solve any problem effectively you should follow these simple steps:

1. Understand the Situation

2. Identify the Root Cause of the Problem

3. Develop an effective action plan

4. Execute, and modify until the problem is solved

Now we will explore each of them in some detail. Let's begin!

1. Understand the Situation:

Before beginning any problem-solving exercise you need to understand the entire

Context. For any problem, there are 3 parts to the context –

a. Business

• What are the business goals of the company? Their vision & mission
• Is it a product or service? - freemium, saas, etc.

b. User

• Who are they? - Demographics
• Why are they using this product? What's their need?
• How they are meeting those needs currently?, i.e., Who are the competitors?
• What issues/pain points do they have while using this product or service?

c. Specific Problem (or Product)

• How long has the problem been occurring?
• Is the problem specific to us or is it industry-wide (our competitors too have it)?
• Does it affect all our users or only a portion of them?
• What is the business impact of the problem?

2. Identify the Root Cause of the Problem:

It's important to deep dive into the root cause. This will help you address not just the symptoms but the cause of the symptoms. Try to understand whether internal factors are responsible or external ones. Then deep dive into each branch of your issue tree to find the root cause.

?3. Develop an Effective Action Plan:?

Once you have identified the root cause of the problem, the next step is to ideate on solutions, then pick the most appropriate one (based on certain factors like Cost-benefit or effort impact) and build a plan of action. The plan of action involves:

a) Getting other team members on board with the proposed changes (e.g. engineering and design team)

b) Have properly defined timelines.

c) Success criteria.

4. Execute, and Modify until the Problem Is Solved:

Once you begin to execute your solution, you will notice that not everything goes according to plan. Maybe the solution you have chosen is not as effective as you initially thought. There might be delays or unexpected difficulties in execution.

This might require modifications to your chosen solution and demands iteration!

So what would a problem-solving kid do in a real-time scenario? Let's look at an example:?

The catch is that we often don't do what seems simple and obvious. For example, consider a student whose math grades are going down like many people. He might just say, "I have to raise my grades," and hope for the best without actually doing anything to improve them. Chances are that his math grades are going to stay right where they are because he never bothers to figure out the root cause of his problem and what he can do about it.?

A problem-solving kid may start by asking himself, "What types of questions am I getting wrong? Then he could break the questions into categories, like algebra, fractions, and geometry. By comparing his scores by category, he may find that his algebra score is actually going up, while his score in fractions is flat, and only his geometry scores are going down. Just looking at the average trend of the math grades as a whole doesn't help him see what is happening.

So if geometry seems to be the only area causing the grade to drop, the next step would be to further break down the geometry scores into additional subtopics, including area, angles, and volume to better identify what types of problems are causing him trouble.

Once you learn the basic problem-solving approach, you can stop panicking and gain the confidence to solve any problems that you face in life, whether they are about grades, work, or your personal life.