Are You Solving the Right Problem?

Are You Solving the Right Problem?

1. “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it,” Albert Einstein said.

   • Asking better questions de-livers better results.
     • critically analyzing and clearly articulating a problem can yield highly inno-vative solutions
   • most companies aren’t sufficiently rigorous in defining the problems they’re attempting to solve and articulating why those issues are important.
     • waste resources
     • miss opportunities
     • and end up pursuing innovation initiatives that aren’t aligned with their strategies
   • How many times have you seen a project go down one path only to realize in hindsight that it should have gone down another?

2. The Problem-Definition Process

   • Establish the need for a solution
   • JUSTIFY THE NEED
   • CONTEXTUALIZE THE PROBLEM
   • WRITE THE PROBLEM STATEMENT

3. 1. ESTABLISH THE NEED FOR A SOLUTION

   • WHAT IS THE BASIC NEED?
   • WHAT IS THE DESIRED OUTCOME?
   • WHO STANDS TO BENEFIT AND WHY?

4. 2. JUSTIFY THE NEED

   • IS THE EFFORT ALIGNED WHY OUR STRATEGY?
   • HOW WILL WE ENSURE THAT A SOLUTION IS IMPLEMENTED?
   • WHAT ARE THE DESIRED BENEFITS FOR THE COMPANY, AND HOW WILL WE MEASURE THEM?

5. 3. CONTEXTUALIZE THE PROBLEM

   • WHAT APPROACHES HAVE WE TRIED?
     • The aim here is to find solutions that might already exist in your organization and identify those that it has disproved.
   • Examining past efforts to find a solution can sabe time and resources and generate highly innovative thinking.
   • WHAT ARE THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CONTRAINTS ON IMMPLEMENTIN A SOLUTION?
     • WHAT HAVE OTHERS TRIED

6. 4. WRITE THE PROBLEM STATEMENT

   • IS THE PROBLEM MANY PROBLEMS?
     • WHAT INFORMATION AND language should the problem statement include?
     • HOW WILL SOLUTIONS be evaluated and success measured?
     • The aim here is to drill down to root causes. Complex, seemingly insoluble issues are much more approachable when broken into discrete elements.
   • WHAT REQUIREMENTS MUST A SOLUTION MEET
     • WHICH PROBLEM SOLVERS should we engage?
     • The problem statement, which captures all that the organization has learned through answering the questions in the previous steps, helps establish a consensus on what a viable solution would be and what resources would be required to achieve it.
   • WHAT DO SOLVERS NEED TO SUBMIT?
     • WHAT INCENTIVES DO solvers need?