Understanding how to frame and deconstruct a given problem is probably one of the most important things in any type of project. Before jumping the gun trying to solve that particular problem it is advisable to think about the problem and to frame it in the best way possible.

A clear understanding of the problem amongst the core team will bring clarity to any execution and project.

Who could use this

This framework could be very useful for anyone that wants to better understand the problem space and learn how too frame a particular challenge. In short, it helps anyone to deep dive in the particular problem space and share that

Framework explanation

When we are thinking about a particular problem, specially when aiming to build a very distinct and unique solution for a problem it is important to think and break your challenge in a couple of different variables :

• Who
• What
• Where
• Why

We should always start with the customer in mind and try to better understand who actually faces that problem. The customer or user could be internal or external, depending on the situation, and your job will be to experience problems together with your customer. What do you know about them?

After identifying and validating who has the problem you will have to make sure this is really a problem? Is this a task or a need? Are we talking about a functional or emotional need? Do you have evidence that you can share? Can you explain in a simple way?

It is also important to frame the problem in context with the customer journey, can you explain where the problem was observed? Can you describe the steps that lead to the problem?

Last but not the least you will need to understand if this is an acute enough problem to solve for. What would it improve to the customer? Why should we tackle it? The Problem Validation framework could be to solve the why.

Slide

Here you will find a slide example. Soon we will implement a feature for anyone to download all the tools that we are building.