Problem finding or solving

I suppose i have been a little late in understanding something fundamental to technology business alignment. One distinction is the difference between problem finding and problem solving. We technologists are often very good at problem solving. We have the necessary analytical expertise to put together a coarse or fine solution depending on the budget, time and scope. But are we really good at problem finding?

Often a problem is not what it may seem and perhaps even morphs with time. Finding and detailing a business problem is as tricky as diagnosing a patient. It takes a skilled physician or a team of skilled professionals to actually zero in on the source of the illness. The therapy is usually simpler being evidence based having clear protocols and treatment pathway. When unraveling a problem, we should expect to find more problems; some more sinister than what we started with and overwhelming too. The book "Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days" by Jake Knapp and offers practical techniques to problem finding. In an interview, Dr Vishal Sikka mentioned "Design thinking is a very powerful idea around problem-finding". Having explored agile and design thinking i can see how this make sense especially to IT teams.

Finding a problem worth solving is predominantly the forte of business representatives from departments that are impacted by the problem. However, technology (operational or information) is increasingly the preferred platform leveraged by business teams. So IT teams get to work across stakeholders in an organization. It would serve IT teams well to master problem finding skills and be in a position to facilitate workshops for stakeholders. The keyword here is "facilitate" and not preach from the pulpit. This is more than just a skill technologists can pick up on the fly. It requires a good degree of work on the part of the technologist to inculcate a new attitude; to become aware of human dynamics; and to prioritize results over an individual opinion. I guess this would be a giant step towards technology business alignment.