Crafting a Problem Statement
Typically Problem Statements start as an initial hypothesis of the problem (you believe) you are working to solve. It is important to note that your Problem Statement will evolve over time as you engage in market research & customer discovery to define the right problem you need to solve from the market’s point of view.
Questions to ask yourself:
- What specific problem am I trying to address?
- What “job” are we helping them accomplish better?
- How do I know it’s a problem?
- Why is this problem significant?
- How is this problem being solved now?
Use (or adapt) one of the following formats to articulate your problem statement:
I believe (specific persons/businesses) experience (struggle, difficulty, or problem they face) when (job to be done) because (reasons).
OR
I believe (specific persons/businesses) have a problem (describe the job to be done) which lead to (describe the consequences), because (describe the limitations or root cause).
As a result of customer (stakeholder) discovery, you want to be able to articulate…
- Why and how significant it is to them to be solved
- What the real problem is we need to solve
- Who this problem affects (stakeholders)