Problem Solving Hack #3 - Problem statements

Now we know which “problems are worth solving” we need to describe the problem in a way that is clear and unambiguous for a team and the wider audience.

It's fascinating to work with teams where everyone knows they have a problem but no one has taken the time to collectively describe it and as a result if you have 10 people in the team you have at least 10 different problems.

This brings us to our 3rd hack problem statements.?

Ensuring that you have different perspectives in the room with sufficient background and knowledge to understand the problem from multiple levels including people who feel the pain of the problem on a daily basis is critical.?

There maybe multiple sub problems but ultimately there is always a way of describing an overarching problem that captures sub problems in a consistent way.

My Inspirations - Taiichi Ohno - “No one has more trouble than the person who claims to have no trouble”

?? Influential Mentors: Michel Grillot , a master in silence and always being clear on the problem he was trying to solve before doing anything

??? Recommended Ways to Structure Problem Statements:?

1) Issue ?? - What is the issue we are observing? Avoid including any solutions

2) Metric??????♀???? - What is the overarching priority business metric that the problem is affecting? You must be able to understand, measure and influence it today!

3) Target ?? - By how much do you need to improve the metric?

4) Time? - By when does this problem need to be solved?

5) Impact ???? - What effect in addition to the metric is the problem having on the customer, process, team or business? Metrics that don’t make the cut as the overarching metric often make great Impacts!

6) Customer ?? - Who is the external or internal customer most impacted by this problem???

7) Constraint ?? - What is the major constraint preventing us from solving the problem? Constraints can be P1 Process, P2 Plant (technology, data, physical), P3 people, P4 policy or P5 paradigm (culture/mindset)

All problem statements will evolve over time and you should revisit them frequently to ensure new insight is reflected in the problem statement - the element that undergoes the most change is 2 metric.

Next up the Theory of Constraints...

James Cavanagh Nikos Kougionas Sarah Rankin Charlotte Aynsley, P. Eng. Jennifer Stubbs Sarah Sumner Shane O'Farrell, MBA, BSc Jeremy Waddell Jonah Prevost Melanie Popp Linda Finnerty Imran Merali Subo Chatterjee Kirsten Baker Harneet Panesar Aman Bhatia Maggie Ngan 顏慧妍 John Samkoe Ammar Nawaz, LL.M, P.Eng. Michel Grillot Robyn McKinney