The 9 questions to ask after “What problem are we trying to solve?”

While looking at possible decision frameworks for a research project about the work life of anesthesiologists, I started exploring the questions that follow “What problem are we trying to solve?”

The temporary room at the annual meeting where we validated our early research.

I was also reexamining the “5 Whys” at that time. I liked the discovery that “5 Whys” allowed, but using it sometimes made me feel like an 8-year-old trying to get out of eating broccoli.

1. Why do I have to eat broccoli?
It’s good for you.

2. Why is it good for me?
It’s a vegetable.

3. Why is a vegetable good for me?
Broccoli is an unique package of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxifying micronutrients. It offers high levels of immune system-boosting vitamin C, bone-strengthening vitamin K, and folate, which plays a strategic role in regulating cell growth and reproduction. It’s also packed with glucosinolate compounds, such as sulforaphane and glucoraphanin, which help to fight cancer. By reducing inflammation, eating broccoli could also help lower the risk of stroke and heart disease.

4. Why do you do that?
That’s my job.

5. Why is it your job?
I’m your dad.

Broccoli notwithstanding, I thought there might be a way to combine the deeper discovery of “5 Whys” with “What problem are you trying to solve?” to provide a more clear path of information gathering with the goal of deciding how we move forward on a request.

I debuted this with my team, coworkers and peers for their feedback. I consider this a living article and look forward to updating it based on your feedback. If you have an idea, send it and I’ll add your name to the contributors list below.

1. “What problem are you trying to solve?”

The key question. If you don’t even know that, why are we talking?

2. “Whose problem is it?”

This is important. If it’s a large percentage of your customers, it may have a higher priority than if it’s “Jim from IT.” Maybe Jim’s problem is everyone’s problem, which we’d still have to confirm. But, maybe it’s just Jim’s problem because Jim has a seven year old Blackberry and 99.9% of your paying customers do not.

3. “Who can fix it?”

Is this a problem we can fix internally or do we need to talk to a vendor? If internal, when do we have the bandwidth to address it? If a vendor, is it a company we have leverage with or one who doesn’t care?

4. “How do we know it’s a problem?”

What brought this to your attention? Is this data or feedback you have from customers or a hunch based on your personal use? If based on your personal use, are you the customer? If you’re not, can we check with customers before committing to anything? Can we replicate the problem?

5. “How big of a problem is it?”

Is it keeping customers from buying our product or is it a problem for a small subset of our customers? Not that the small subsets aren’t important, but we have to prioritize the problem against the resulting value it brings to our overall customer experience. Is it a problem that requires the refactoring of your entire code base?

6. “Do they want us to solve it?”

Maybe this is a very big problem, but not a problem your customers care about or think about in the context of your product or service.

Someone mentioned the story of the boy scout who offered to help a little old lady across the street. The little old lady wanted to cross on her own. She didn’t think of herself as a little old lady and didn’t appreciate the assumption that she needed help. Is your problem the boy scout’s problem?

7. “How important is this problem relative to other problems?”

Resource allocation. Sprint planning. What do you work on next? What gets bumped because of this effort?

8. “What is the impact of doing nothing about the problem?”

Is there a negative impact from doing nothing or from waiting to fix the problem? Does the problem get bigger and become more challenging to fix?

9. “If we fix this problem, what new problems might we create?”

And what new work will we create? Where in the customer experience is this problem? What upstream and downstream products are services are going to change or need to change because we fixed this problem?

10. “How will we determine the problem is solved?”

Do you know your success criteria and KPIs (key performance indicators)? How are we determining the success of the solution? Is data available? Will the data be there when we review the solution in six months? Who owns the data and will they be there in six months?

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There may be more (or less) questions that add value to this conversation, which is what it should be with anyone coming to you to solve a problem. If you want to share your thoughts, contact me at [MyFirstLastname]@gmail.com or via LinkedIn. If they fit, I’ll add your name to the list below.

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Contributors include, in alpha-botanical order (first by last name, then by plant group): Marc Bernstein, Nancy Dribin, Deanna Marchetti, Jen Minarik, Cia Romano, a ficus, and, dagnabbit, I know there are more, but I can’t think of them right now. Thank you.