What Makes a Good Problem Statement?

What Makes a Good Problem Statement?

Most of us have experienced meetings that moved in circles. People where not able to explain a problem and end up talking about their personal point of view on it. This causes discontent of the other participants and they start talking about their point of view. At the end, the meeting ends up with no or little progress. Also, the discussion often goes into details of secondary importance, but the main problem is not attacked.

So, what makes a good problem statement?

To begin, separate the problem from the symptoms: Use “the energy consumption of machine xy is too high” instead of “the electricity bill is very high”.

In most cases, there is already some initial analysis available. Known root causes, historic attempts for solution and other background should be given is a short overview.

In complex situations, it makes sense to present a graphic model of the problem. A good way is to list all components of a system with their functions and interactions. Then, the problematic ones can be marked. Also, a problem ranking should be defined to give a clear orientation where to start. Such an analysis is very useful to understand the problem situation better.

These steps will provide us initial problems. In case we don’t know the root cause, we can ask 5 times “why”. This will indicate us in most cases where the source of the problem is or where we need to dig deeper and gather more information. Sometimes there are also some conditions e.g. temperature, time, etc. which influence the presence of the problem. Such conditions must be listed as well of course.

There several ways to describe the problem itself: my favorite is to describe it as a contradiction.

This can be as an IF ….THEN….BUT statement.

Example:

IF the engine is powerful

THEN the performance is good

BUT the energy consumption is high

In most cases, there are several contradictions. It can make sense to list these as well and select the most relevant them. This sets a clear focus on the actions to take. Side discussions can be avoided and the energy and creativity can be directed on the chosen problem. Especially, for R&D and technical systems this approach is very strong.

Also, very popular are user-centered statements such as: User x needs Y to achieve z. 

To reach that, the team first needs to build up empathy with the user. Usually, customers are interviewed and here the 5 times “Why” questions are asked as well to understand the problem better. Also, the situation of the person is described as a “persona”.

Example:

Manager Andy, (45, married with 2 children) needs an easy to use updated calendar to review schedule during walking to the next meeting.

This problem can then be attacked by “How might we…?” questions in further ideation.

This is a very short description on the topic “problem statement”. Of course, there are many more aspects on it. Contact me if you’d like to learn more.

Don’t start your next meeting without a problem statement!

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