As a solution designer or marketer, tuning into the context and experience of a person in a predicament is fundamental. There is no side-stepping these questions:

• Who is experiencing the problem?
• What problem are they experiencing?
• When and under what circumstances does the problem happen?
• How would they describe it in their own words?
• How does it make them feel?
• How does it affect their quality of life?

​A cogent, well-crafted problem statement answers these questions and provides clarity of context to solution designers and product marketers.

A problem involves a person in the context of a specific predicament. The problem is the raison d'être for any solution under consideration and, by extension, the solution designer and marketer engaged in addressing it.

A person experiencing a problem expresses it through emotion. Describing the circumstances that are causing that emotion, in words a user would use however strong or subtle, provides a foundation of empathy through which to envision an ideal solution. It is important to not overlook the emotion because it creates personal resonance with the problem and with the solution being marketed. A problem statement depicts the moment of opportunity when a transformational solution would make all the difference in a person's quality of life.

From a marketing perspective, borrowing a concept from Pragmatic Marketing, a “market” is a group of people who share the same problem. Therefore, understanding and clearly defining the problem is the cornerstone of any solution to be created and/or marketed. This makes a highly refined problem statement or set of statements all the more valuable.

Who needs or uses problem statements?

• Solution designers and architects
  They need to understand the context under which a problem occurs. The more empathy the designer or architect has for the person experiencing the problem the better.
• A product manager
  They need to identify which ones are urgent and pervasive. That particular subset of problem statements represents the high-potential candidate problems to research, assess, verify and build a business case for solving.

A problem statement is a sentence or two that contains these descriptive elements:

1. A description of the person 
   Name or describe the business role or life role of the person.
2. When or under what conditions the problem occurs
   Describe what goal they are trying to achieve or when does it happen?
3. An emotion they experience
   Describe this in language that they would use or that you have observed so that an empathetic sense of connection to the person experiencing the problem is established.
4. A description of the effect the problem has on their quality of life
   Use language that the person would use in their business or life context.​​

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​Actual Statements and Mad-Lib Styled Templates
You may be fortunate and have the ability to describe the problem statement by simply transcribing what you have actually observed people say in the context of experiencing a problem. That's a preferable way in which to produce a problem statement.

But, if you don't have that form of recall handy, or if you need some help constructing a statement that can be easily understood, then some fill-in-the-blank templates might prove helpful to help demonstrate what this looks like.

To that end, here are some Mad-Lib styled templates:
​

• As a       (1)      , when       (2)      , I am       (3)        because       (4)      .
  
  
• As a       (1)      , I am       (2)      , when       (3)        because       (4)      .

​Examples
Here are two examples of problems statements based on conversations I've or observations I've had in just the past day:

• As an iPhone user, when I can't find my AirPods case I panic and scramble looking all over the place retracing my steps because the darned thing is so easy to lose and would cost me a fortune for me to have to replace.
• As a coach, in a live practice or game setting when tensions are already high to begin with, someone lets something denigrating fly out of their mouth to one of the players. At that moment, I’m flustered because I’m supposed to lead here and I draw a blank on what to say or do. I’m unsure of what to do in response because I’m not experienced in how to handle something like this. Over the long-haul, letting this kind of communication go unchallenged affects the team, our institution, our relationships, and our friendships.

Best Practices and Pitfalls to Avoid

• Do use the first person
• Do use descriptive statements that you have actually observed people saying
• Do create multiple statements rather than trying to blend multiple problems into one
• Don't describe the solution or use solution jargon
• Don't embellish using false emotion or projection (do keep your BS detector on)

An ideal solution statement is a sentence or two that:

• Begins with the phrase, "The ideal solution would..."
• May contains the phrase "so that" or "the ability to"

​Examples
Here are ideal solution statements based on the aforementioned problem statements:

• The ideal solution would provide me the ability to know where my AirPod case is located right now so that I can find it easily.
• The ideal solution would give me the know-how and confidence to respond appropriately in the moment and over the long-haul so that values of personal respect and dignity are established and reinforced in our team and in our institution.

​Best Practices and Pitfalls to Avoid

• Do use the first person
• Do describe the business or quality-of-life improvement delivered
• Do write the first draft of the statement soon after producing the problem statement because it so naturally flows afterward
• Do create one ideal solution statement per problem statement
• Don't describe components of the solution or use solution jargon

​Subscribe to my free blog updates to receive content that vividly describes the techniques and leadership skills that embody the practice of agile design methods. The blog contains not only my ideas on the topic but the insight of others who actively work and thrive wholeheartedly in the realms of collaborative creativity and solution design.

When considering how to get from understanding a problem to designing and delivering a solution, the process is a predictable set of conversations that inform every step along the way from ideation to delivery.

​Getting "from-concept-to-market" faster and more effectively yields competitive advantage as well as a solution more likely to resonate with the people who will ultimately buy or use it.

The concepts described herein apply whether your field of endeavor is operational excellence or product development.

As an organizational leader facilitating efforts to improve a process or product manager engaging your design team, you face predictable challenges when moving from some vague notion of a concept to actually designing the solution.

Here are some aspects that affect your future state design process:

• Clarity
  Why are we doing this?
  ​Why does it matter?
  What problems are we trying to solve for and who will buy/use our solution?
  How do the problems materialize in the quality of life of those affected?
  How else does the problem materialize?
  What are the qualities of the ideal solution?

​

• Velocity
  How do we get the design flywheel started?
  What does progress look like in the early stages of the process?
  How do we create a "fast path" to produce high-quality design deliverables that will inform the designers and architects of the envisioned solution?
  
  
• Engagement
  How do we develop trust and confidence within the design team?
  How do we acquire the whole-hearted participation of the people tasked with designing the solution?
  How do we vet the impact of the envisioned solution with potential buyers/users?

​Early conversations focus on Why and What: 

• Understanding what the problem is and why it matters, and designing by describing what the ideal qualities of the solution entail, in just enough essential detail.
• These conversations are enabled via agile design methods that produce specific deliverables intended for decision-makers, stakeholders as well as solutions designers and architects.

Latter conversations focus on How:

• Designing and delivering the solution.
• These conversations are enabled by agile development methods that produce specific deliverables intended for decision-makers as well as solutions developers and delivery channel stakeholders.

This approach lends itself to introducing the right conversation at the right time.

Conversation #1: Learning and Discovery

The scope of this conversation pertains to the understanding of the problem. ​This conversation is in scope of agile design methods.​

Allow the voice of the people who are experiencing the problem(s) to inform this conversation. Listen and learn and document that learning to describe what each problem looks like and summarize them in problem statements in addition to statements of what is working well.

Document this learning and discovery conversation to inform the future state design conversation. Decide whether or not to proceed to a future state design conversation.

Conversation #2: Future State Design

The scope of this conversation pertains to the describing the ideal solution. This conversation is in scope of agile design methods.

Allow a dedicated and accountable group of contributors to inform a conversation around describing "what" the ideal solution looks without describing "how" the solution will be implemented. The descriptive language is free from any implementation jargon and focuses on delivering a clear description of the envisioned solution that may include process definitions, key solution deliverables, user experience criteria, risks, issues and opportunities.

Document this future state design conversation to inform the solution development conversation. Decide whether or not to continue to a solution development conversation.

Conversation #3: Solution Development

The scope of this conversation pertains to designing and developing the solution. This conversation is out of scope of agile design methods. 

Allow a dedicated and accountable group of designers and architects to inform a conversation that describes "how" the ideal solution will be implemented. The descriptive language is rich in implementation detail. It may provide design alternatives that provide varying degrees of cost, risk, time, return on investment, etc. Decisions are made regarding design alternatives and leading to the actual development of a solution.

Document this solutions development to inform the solution delivery conversation. This conversation is out of scope of agile design methods.

Conversation #4: Solution Delivery

The scope of this conversation pertains to the delivery and support of the solution. This conversation is out of scope of agile design methods.

Allow a dedicated and accountable group to inform a conversation that oversees the delivery of the solution. This includes launching and promoting the solution as well as supporting it and providing user experience feedback to inform solution improvement efforts.

Agile design methods are those techniques and leadership skills that enable a future state design process characterized by high velocity, collaborative engagement and clarity of ideation. The resulting design is typically produced at a lower cost than traditional methods with a high degree of precision and improved stakeholder engagement and satisfaction.

The outputs of these conversations intentionally stop short of designing the implementation, They describe what the problems are and what the ideal solution qualities look like. This informs solutions architects and designers who are responsible for determining how to design the solution and the production/development teams that will deliver it.

Agile Design Methods: The What Perspective
Agile design methods, as quickly as practically possible, describe what is envisioned to be an ideal process or solution. They produce ideation deliverables that describe what the problems are and what the ideal solution qualities look like.

Exercising this type of "Design the What" discipline respects a separation of concerns between the market problem definition and the solution design definition. It informs the solution designers and architects who are responsible to "Design the How" of the solution under discussion.

​At the time of this writing, the phrase "agile design methods" is not widely used or understood.

Agile Development Methods: The How Perspective
In contrast, agile development methods, as quickly as practically possible, define how to architect the solution and then proceed in building and delivering that solution. They ​produce deliverables that describe how the solution is to be implemented and they produce the actual solution. ​

At the time of this writing, the phrase "agile software development" is commonplace and is routinely associated with the word "agile".

The purpose of this primer has been to establish a foundation of a conversational framework that provides context as to where agile design methods fit in an overall solution development life cycle.

It sets the stage for further elaboration on topics related to agile design methods, collaborative creativity, product development and user experience.

- Chuck

Subscribe to my free blog updates to receive content that vividly describes the techniques and leadership skills that embody the practice of agile design methods. The blog contains not only my ideas on the topic, but the insight of others who actively work and thrive wholeheartedly in the realms of collaborative creativity.

​I look forward to you joining us. It's going to be quite a journey.