What is a problem definition statement? - Design-Led Strategy: Design thinking for business
Summary
TLDRThis script delves into crafting a robust problem definition statement for businesses. It emphasizes the importance of empathy mapping to understand customer needs, developing point of view statements to focus on specific customer insights, and utilizing brainstorming to generate solutions. The process concludes with formulating a concise, human-centered problem statement that guides product development, ensuring it addresses real customer issues while inspiring creativity and remaining realistic.
Takeaways
- ๐ Conduct primary market research to inform about the problem you're trying to solve.
- ๐ Define a problem statement to set the roadmap for your company's product or service development.
- ๐ง Use empathy mapping to understand customer needs and reactions, divided into four quadrants: thinks, feels, says, and does.
- ๐ฅ Develop empathy maps in a team setting to minimize individual bias and gain diverse insights.
- ๐ค Generate assumptions about customer needs from empathy mapping to identify and define problems.
- ๐๏ธ Create a point of view statement that focuses on specific customers, integrating insights from empathy mapping.
- ๐ Choose a customer persona to focus on when developing a point of view statement, considering their most pressing needs.
- ๐ก Use brainstorming sessions with a facilitator to generate ideas for solving the problem, encouraging all ideas without criticism.
- โฑ Set a strict time limit for brainstorming to maintain focus and productivity.
- ๐จ Be visual during brainstorming, using different colored pens or sticky notes to connect and bring ideas to life.
- ๐ Craft a problem definition statement that is concise, human-centered, and realistic to guide and inspire your team.
Q & A
What is the primary purpose of conducting primary market research?
-The primary purpose of conducting primary market research is to inform about the problem you're trying to solve, ensuring that your product or service addresses an actual problem for your customers, either internally or externally.
What is a problem definition statement and why is it important?
-A problem definition statement is a concise description of the issue or problem that needs to be addressed. It is important because it sets the roadmap for the company, ensuring that the product or service is developed to solve a real problem and sparks interest, generating ideas and excitement.
How does empathy mapping help in the problem definition process?
-Empathy mapping helps by enabling a deeper understanding of customers' needs. It is divided into four quadrants: thinks, feels, says, and does, allowing you to identify and define problems from the customer's perspective.
What is the relationship between empathy maps and customer personas?
-Empathy maps are related to customer personas as they provide a way to determine how these personas will react to different situations, helping to identify their most obvious, relevant, and demanding needs.
How should an empathy map be developed for optimal results?
-An empathy map should be developed in a team setting with colleagues working on the project to ensure that individual psychological biases do not influence the observations and to foster a comprehensive understanding of the customer or persona.
What is a point of view statement and how does it guide problem-solving?
-A point of view statement is a guiding statement that focuses on specific customers or consumers, bringing together the insights and needs uncovered during the empathy mapping process. It helps to ideate and solve the problem in a goal-oriented manner, keeping the focus on the customer's needs and insights.
Can you provide an example of a point of view statement based on the script?
-An example of a point of view statement from the script is: 'Rachel needs access to a reasonably priced, flexible home delivery grocery service because fresh produce is important to her, and she doesn't want to carry home heavy shopping bags.'
What role does brainstorming play in the problem definition process?
-Brainstorming plays a crucial role in generating ideas to solve a problem. It is usually done with a group of people, including colleagues, stakeholders, customers, or consumers, and facilitated by an experienced person to make associations and connections between ideas.
What are some key aspects to consider for a successful brainstorming session?
-Key aspects for a successful brainstorming session include having a well-defined problem statement, setting a strict time limit, being open-minded and allowing all ideas to be presented without criticism, fostering an environment where all ideas are encouraged, and being visual to bring ideas to life and connect them in different ways.
What are the characteristics of a good problem definition statement?
-A good problem definition statement is human-centered, focusing on users and the people the problem is intended to solve for. It should be broad enough to inspire creativity but narrow enough to be realistic and achievable, avoiding being overly technical or operational.
How does the problem definition statement guide the development of a product or service?
-The problem definition statement guides the development by aligning with the insights gathered through customer personas and primary market research. It ensures that the focus remains on the user's needs and helps in crafting a solution that is both innovative and feasible.
Outlines
๐ Problem Definition and Tools for Market Research
This paragraph discusses the importance of problem definition in guiding a company's roadmap. It emphasizes the role of a well-researched problem statement in ensuring that a product or service addresses real issues faced by customers. The paragraph introduces various tools such as empathy mapping, point of view statements, and brainstorming to develop a robust problem statement. Empathy mapping is highlighted as a tool to understand customer needs by breaking it into four quadrants: thinks, feels, says, and does. The paragraph also explains how to create a point of view statement by focusing on specific customer personas and their needs, and how brainstorming can be utilized to generate ideas for problem-solving in a group setting.
๐ Crafting a Human-Centered Problem Definition Statement
The second paragraph focuses on the process of creating a problem definition statement, which is a concise description of the issue that needs to be resolved. It underlines the importance of keeping the statement short, human-centered, and aligned with customer insights and primary market research. The paragraph advises on making the statement broad enough to inspire creativity while being realistic and achievable. It also discusses the need for a problem definition statement to spark interest and excitement, and how it should be focused on the users rather than the venture or the product itself. The paragraph concludes by summarizing the entire module, which covers primary market research, customer persona development, and crafting a problem definition statement, using a corporate case study for practical application.
Mindmap
Keywords
๐กPrimary Market Research
๐กProblem Definition Statement
๐กEmpathy Mapping
๐กCustomer Personas
๐กPoint of View Statement
๐กBrainstorming
๐กHuman-Centered
๐กInsight
๐กIdea Generation
๐กFacilitator
๐กNarrative Insight Statement
Highlights
Primary market research is essential for understanding the problem you are trying to solve.
A problem definition statement sets the roadmap for a company's product or service development.
A robust problem definition ensures alignment with actual customer problems, both internal and external.
The problem definition process includes empathy mapping, point of view statements, and brainstorming.
Empathy mapping helps to understand customers' needs by identifying their thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Empathy maps are divided into four quadrants: thinks, feels, says, and does.
Developing an empathy map as a team can reduce individual psychological biases.
Point of view statements focus on specific customers and consolidate insights from empathy mapping.
A narrative insight statement rationalizes a persona's specific needs based on empathy mapping.
Brainstorming sessions should be facilitated by an experienced person to connect ideas effectively.
A well-defined problem statement is crucial for a successful brainstorming session.
Open-mindedness and idea acceptance without criticism are key to effective brainstorming.
Visual representation of ideas during brainstorming can enhance creativity and connection of thoughts.
A problem definition statement should be concise, human-centered, and inspire creative thinking.
The problem definition statement must be realistic and achievable without being overly technical.
The module teaches how to apply empathy mapping, point of view statements, and brainstorming in developing a problem statement.
The case study demonstrates the practical application of these methods in a business setting.
Transcripts
we've seen that your primary market
research helps to inform you about the
problem you're trying to solve
we're now going to look at a problem
definition a problem definition
statement
help set the roadmap for your company a
robust and well researched problem
definition statement ensures that your
product or service is delivering against
an actual problem
whether that problem be internally or
externally for your customers for
instance
we'll look at the problem definition
process
and the tools you can use to support the
problem definition process
including empathy mapping point of view
statements
and brainstorming our aim is to use each
of these tools in order to develop
a robust problem statement that clearly
and succinctly
addresses the problem at hand so let's
take a deeper look into each of these
steps in turn
starting with empathy mapping empathy is
usually defined as
standing in someone else's shoes or
seeing through someone else's eyes
it's the ability to identify and
understand another situation
feelings or motives an
empathy map will help you better
understand your customers needs
and it enables you to develop a deeper
understanding of the people
you are providing a product or service
to
empathy maps are related to your
customer personas
they provide an easy way of rapidly
determining how your personas will react
to different situations
generally the empathy map is broken into
four quadrants
thinks feels says and does
an empathy map can either be developed
as an abstract tool
linked to a specific customer persona
that you have developed
or you can use an empathy map to record
the reactions of
actual or potential customers you've
engaged through interviews
or focus groups you'll get a better
outcome if you populate an empathy map
in a team setting so with the colleagues
that are working on this project with
you perhaps
this helps ensure that your own
psychological biases are not influencing
the observations of the individual or
persona
from the mapping you can now make
assumptions on the persona's most
obvious
relevant and demanding needs and this
will be a big help
in identifying and defining the problems
now you can go on with the next tool in
your problem definition toolbox which is
generating
a point of view statement your point of
view statement is a guiding statement
that focuses on specific customers or
consumers
it brings together the insights and
needs that we were uncovering
during the empathy mapping process
a well thought out point of view
statement will allow you to ideate and
solve your problem in a goal-oriented
manner
it will keep you focused on your
customer or consumer their needs
and your insights about them so how do
we arrive at a point of view statement
the first step is to choose which
customer persona you are going to work
through
is the problem more relevant for one
customer persona than another
if so focus on that one make sure you
refresh yourself on their most pressing
needs
as raised during the empathy mapping
exercise next
extrapolate a narrative insight
statement that draws together a
rationale
for why this persona has a specific need
here's an example persona rachel
a 32 year old who lives alone in the cbd
need needs to eat three meals a day
insight as a single person living in the
cbd
rachel needs to do her grocery shopping
but doesn't want to carry home heavy
shopping bags
she also doesn't always eat at home it's
important to rachel that she has fresh
produce
at a reasonable price lastly we turn
this into a single sentence
the point of view statement for example
rachel needs access to a reasonable
priced
flexible home delivery grocery service
because fresh produce is important to
her
and she doesn't want to carry home heavy
shopping bags finally we do some
brainstorming
brainstorming is generating ideas to
solve a problem
it's usually done with a group of people
rather than by yourself
so these may be a group of colleagues at
work external stakeholders
customers or consumers to get the most
out of a brainstorming session make sure
you have an experienced facilitator to
connect or make associations out of all
of the incredible
yet seemingly disconnected ideas that
will come out of the session
facilitators also play an important role
in setting the tone for the session and
keeping it focused
some other important aspects to consider
to set your brainstorming session up for
success
include start with a well-defined
problem statement so that you're crystal
clear about what it is you're trying to
achieve
what is this brainstorming session
really about
set a strict time limit this will make
you focused
and churn out as many ideas as possible
without getting too off track
be really open-minded make sure you
allow
all ideas to be presented without
criticism either from yourself
or your colleagues sometimes it's the
most out there idea that ultimately
becomes the best solution so don't shut
it down before it stands a chance
this can be easier said than done but
it's incredibly important
the more ideas the better give yourself
as many options from which to generate a
winning
solution as possible taking a more is
more approach will also help foster an
environment where
all ideas are encouraged no matter what
be visual
you don't just need to make a dot list
on a whiteboard draw
scribble connect ideas with different
colored pens or sticky notes
do whatever you can think of to really
bring your ideas to life and to view and
connect the ideas in different ways
finally we can bring all this together
in a problem definition statement
a problem definition statement is a
short description of the issues or
problem
that needs to be addressed and short is
the operative word here just a sentence
or two
a problem definition statement is
important because it will guide and
focus you on specific needs that you
have uncovered
a problem statement also sparks interest
generates ideas
and excitement a problem definition
statement must be human-centered
that is it needs to be focused on your
users
and the people you're trying to solve a
problem for it also needs to be broad
enough to inspire creative thinking
but narrow enough to be realistic let's
explore each of these a little more
a human-centered problem definition
statement should align with the insights
you have gathered
through developing customer personas and
conducting primary market research
and your empathy mapping the statement
is also about the persona
not your venture and not the product or
service you are developing
the problem definition statement should
be broad enough to inspire creativity
but
narrow enough so that the problem
definition statement is grounded
realistic and achievable don't restrict
your thinking to technical or
operational requirements
but at the same time don't create
something that's overly daunting for
your team
so now we've looked at the problem
definition process you should have a
good understanding of how to apply
empathy mapping
point of view statements and
brainstorming in the development of a
robust
problem statement and that brings us to
the end of the module
where we've learned how to conduct
primary market research analyze its
results
identify and develop customer personas
and craft a problem definition statement
so we've gone through quite a lot
but best of all we've learned all about
it from the lived experience of a large
and successful corporate case study to
see how it directly applies in a
business setting
i really hope you got a lot out of this
[Music]
module
[Music]
you
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