How to start a new project?
How to frame a problem space for your product, identify the objectives and specify the solution scope?
Starting a new project from scratch is an exciting yet challenging task. With numerous ideas being thrown around and endless brainstorming sessions, it’s easy to get caught in a cycle of discussion without making any tangible progress. While brainstorming is a useful tool, it can also lead to getting bogged down in unnecessary details before the team has even aligned on the project’s goals, objectives, and problem space. This often results in jumping straight into proposing solutions without fully understanding the underlying need being addressed.
To overcome the limitations of traditional brainstorming, I’ve introduced a Problem Statement template to the teams I’ve been working with. This template allows the team to clearly define and communicate the core problem to be solved, directing their focus toward the problem space at the start of the project. I have personally seen the benefits of using this template, and the teams I have worked with have also found it to be a valuable communication piece.
Initially, some team members may be skeptical, but they quickly realize the time-saving, focus-enhancing, and expectation-setting benefits it provides and they will thank you for introducing this tool.
What is a Problem Statement?
A Problem Statement template is an important component for a successful project kick-off. By using it, you can clearly define and communicate the core problem that needs to be solved right from the start. The template covers all the important elements, including an introduction and context, primary decision-makers, criteria for success, and solution scope, to ensure clear expectations and project goals. It also provides a way to identify potential obstacles and constraints, and lists primary sources of knowledge for reference.
Let’s break down individual elements of this template and see how can we answer these questions and what are the benefits for each piece.
1. Basic question to be resolved
This is a crucial part of your problem statement worksheet. Also, it’s the hardest to define. But ultimately, this statement should provide a clear understanding of the project’s objectives. You should try do capture and define what needs to be resolved to deliver the value to your client/user.
To help you specify the problem to be solved in your problem statement, consider the following guiding questions:
- Who is affected by the problem? (target audience)
- What is the current situation and why is it problematic? (identify the frustration and obstacles that the user is facing)
- Where does the problem occur and in what context? (at what point in the user journey does this problem occur, and what the user wants to achieve with that journey)
- When does the problem occur and what is the timeline?
- Why is it important to solve this problem? (is it important enough for the user to switch to your new product)
- How does this problem manifest itself and what are its symptoms? (what is the cause of the problem that the user is facing and how does that affect them)
2. Perspective and context
This segment will help your team members better understand the landscape around the domain that you’re getting into. It provides a brief info about the situation and existing problems. Why is it a problem and who has this problem? Describe the situation that led to the formulation of the problem. Also, focus on the trends in the industry, your relative position in it and market forces.
3. Decision makers
At some point of the project, somebody will have to make some hard decisions, or to choose between a couple of options and product directions. It is a good practice to outline who that person is. This can be a domain expert in your team, CEO, product designer, or any other person who is the most relevant to the basic question to be resolved. This way you’re making sure that there is someone to make the cut and that the person is the most relevant to do so. Everybody will feel more comfortable knowing that there’s someone appointed to steer the ship.
4. Criteria for success
This segment is important for setting the right expectations. You’ve defined what you want to solve, but here you have to specify what needs to happen to call this project a success? You can think in terms of qualitative and quantitative metrics that will indicate success. For qualitative metrics, it can be a visual improvement, additional functionality that will enable users to do X or a technical improvement that will open the doors for scaling. For quantitative metrics, it can be a target number of newly acquired users, revenue targets, growth indicators, active users, number of subscription, increased engagement time by x%, etc.
5. Scope of the solution
This is also very important for better focus — indicate what will be covered by the solution. That means outlining a set of key features that are an absolute must for a given phase of the project. This will set the right expectations, and will clear unnecessary discussions out of the way for now. Besides the key features, the scope should indicate quality expectations such as speed, scale, level of details and other non-functional requirements. Having this will prevent you from over-engineering the solution.
6. Constraints and obstacles
This is where you do a reality check — what is actually possible to do in a given timeframe and what are the constraints. Stating the constraints and obstacles will make you think about potential failure points upfront, and mitigate the risks at the very beginning. Again, this is also helpful to calibrate the expectations and limit your solution to a lean slice. Also, it’s sometimes useful to outline what will not be included in the solution.
7. Key sources of insights
Finally, it is recommended to call out your sources of insight. As soon as you dive into the solution space, you will need a domain expert or a good quality data sources. This is a good time do do an investigation and figure out the knowledge sources that will help you design a better solution.
How can this help?
Improved communication: By outlining the key information about the problem, scope, decision-makers, and criteria for success, you can ensure that everyone involved in the project has a clear understanding of what needs to be done and why. This can help to reduce misunderstandings and improve overall communication within the team.
Enhanced focus: By defining the scope of the solution and identifying potential obstacles and constraints, you can help to keep the project on track and avoid scope creep. This can help to keep the team focused on the most important tasks and increase the chances of success.
Increased efficiency: By identifying the primary sources of knowledge and decision-makers, you can streamline communication and decision-making processes, which can help to save time and increase efficiency.
Better planning: By considering potential obstacles and constraints upfront, you can better plan for the future and mitigate potential risks. This can help to ensure that the project stays on schedule and within budget.
Next steps
You can create your Problem Statement by using the examples displayed in this article. Also, you can get a detailed collection of questions and suggestions here. These questions will guide you through the problem statement creation process, giving you hints and useful questions to kick off the discussion.
Hope this helps! Get your Problem Statement Template, and let me know how did it improve your planning and execution!
