Why problems are your best friend

What do you think when you hear the word "problem" in a business context? Let's say you ask someone at work what they are working on and she responds "we working on the following problems." How would you perceive the term?

You will for sure be engaged. But are you engaged because it makes you worried or curious?

Of course it depends. 

A problem can be a defect. That should make you worried and focused on how to overcome the challenge and why it wasn't addressed to begin with. Companies like Amazon obsess over root causes, which drives continuous improvement.

Customer focused companies have an equally important meaning for this term, and they obsess over that as well. 

That's because in leading companies, a problem often conveys an unresolved customer need.

The difference in these meanings is huge.

An unresolved customer need is proactive and potentially not even something customers are expressing yet. The best problems to focus on come from signals on where customer behavior is headed and designing products to meet those needs.

They are ideas on how the customer experience can be taken to a higher level and made even better. They are the source of differentiation, greater loyalty and staying ahead of customer expectations. 

A list of such problems in the cornerstone of a strong company. Once you have an interesting problem identified you can of course engage in problem solving, which is how we create value. Interesting problems also make for more meaningful work.

So it's a good question to ask ourselves what problems are we solving today and which of those problems are looking ahead versus in the rear view mirror?

The equation is by no means black and white. There should always be some problems that come down to fixing things that break due to shipping products fast. Having no such problems is a sign of lower ambition and following the pack. Just look at any unicorn company that is keeping it's mojo. One consequence of success is earning the right to the next set of problems. 

Responding quickly to what needs to be fixed, having a process for it and keeping an eye on new meaningful problems to address is a great way to build and maintain momentum.