10 methods of Problem Exploration
Solving complex problem well was an important skill centuries ago, and would remain so going forward as well. What would change, perhaps, are the technological aids and access to information, but creativity would be the cornerstone skill of the future. In this piece, I detail the ten most commonly adopted techniques of problem discovery and exploration. But before that, let’s establish the vitality of the problem.
The key to problem solving is to understand the problem well, to scope it and define it clearly. Most attempts of creativity fail for the problems are not well defined, or it’s assumed that everyone understand the problem well. But nothing is father from the truth. In fact, there is so much of a rush to solve the problem that most people don’t spend adequate time investigating it, as it’s the dirty, the less glamorous part. If only we could appreciate that a problem fully understood is half-solved, we would have less problems around us. But at any rate, you can become an adept problem solved, both on the personal and professional fronts, if your embrace discipline. (Except that discipline itself is so rare).
Before you proceed, take a few minutes to read the Anatomy of Creative Problem Solving. You can also watch the video, if you prefer it that way.
So, here’re the ten techniques of problem discovery and analysis.
Five Why Analysis
While understanding any problem, one must acknowledge that what’s visible is a mere symptom, and that the real issues are hidden underneath. You are mostly seeing a layer of symptoms, that must be unearthed to reveal the problems and then some more, before the root causes are evident.
One time tested means is the Five Why analysis. It’s about asking the question ‘why’ a five time, till you can go no further, or that it becomes tautological. That’s when you hit the real root cause, or root causes. It’s typically the first go-to tool while investigating any problem.
Take for instance the city traffic issue. One thread of investigation might look like as follow:
Traffic → More Cars → Poor public transportation → Funds?
5W + 2H Analysis
The Five Why is a powerful technique by itself to get to the root cause(s) of any symptom. However, if the problem is multi-faceted, especially involving people and a lot of them, you get to adopt a slightly more detailed treatment — 5W and 2H.
The 5Ws are: What, When, Where, Who and Why. Of course, the why has already been dealt with in detail, hence it gets to the bottom. The 2Hs are: How and How Much. It’s a great investigative tool.
For instance, if you are investigating causes of frequent absenteeism at the workplace, your tips are: What (absenteeism), When (mostly on Fridays), Where (sales offices more than factories), Who (entry level staff), Why (long week-ends), How (calling it sick), and How Much (once a month).
Fishbone Diagram (Ishikawa Diagram)
Japanese have been the masters of problem solving and continuous improvement. Their attention to detail is legendary, and so is their ability to reduce waste and any sort of rework. The Five Why and 5W+ 2H techniques comes straight from the stable of Japanese management styles and so does the Ishikawa Diagram or the Fishbone Diagram.
Here, any situation is attributed to six categories of causes: Man (human), Machine (technical), Material (inputs), Methods (process), Measurement (assessment), and Mother Nature (uncontrollable).
Such categories force you into thinking about possible causes of a certain phenomenon, places where you would typically not delve deeper. For instance, when looking at a machine breakdown, it won’t be obvious to look at attributes relating to measurement or mother nature, but the method nudges you into thinking of such potentialities and hence be thorough in your investigation.
Mindmapping
Mindmapping is an incredibly simple and versatile technique to explore any problem, especially if it is multi dimensional. While the Five Why and 5W + 2H techniques help you delve deeper into a single strand of the problem, the mindmapping method lets you explore multiple dimensions simultaneously, and moreover, see connections between those.
Further, unlike the Fishbone diagram where categories are pre-defined, in a mindmapping exercise the clusters evolve. So, it’s a much more organic exercise. Apart from it being a fantastic visualization tool, the mindmap also helps you think clearly and improve your memory skills.
You start with the core phenomenon (read symptom) and then explore the most prominent problems causing the symptom. A good idea is to first list down seven to ten problems and then delve deeper into each to identify two-three root causes. It’s quite likely that you would witness repetitive root causes and that’s when you realize you have hit the pay dirt. The method is best done in a group setting to encourage divergent thinking on an issue.
Stakeholder Map
One must admit that no problem is an island onto itself, as much as no person is. There are always a concert of people or agencies directly or indirectly affecting the issue — either as a cause of the problem or means of solving it. These are called stakeholders.
The stakeholder mapping is a three step process. Firstly, you identify seven to nine critical stakeholders who are central to the problem. Secondly, you list down the key positives/ gains or negative/ pains for each of them. There might be some stakeholders who have a greater concern/ anxiety associated with the problem than the others. Lastly, you highlight if there are conflicts between one stakeholder’s pain and someone else’s gain. Such conflicts are good to know before they unfold.
Stakeholder map helps you appreciate the human dimension of the problem a lot better. Something that both Five Why and Mindmapping do not elucidate that clearly.
Journey Map
How about the dimension of time? While the mindmap gives you a spatial view of the issue, and the Stakeholder Map presents a human view, the Journey Map, or the Process Map, offers a temporal perspective. Here, the problem is understood on how it unfolds with time. As you may well appreciate, there are certain issues which become sinister with time, or that there are some weak-links that must be dealt with carefully.
The Journey Map could that be of a customer, or a product development, or a process unfolding over time, where you identify the key steps and then issues with each. Such issues could both be actual and potential. The view presents a sense of what one must focus on to resolve the overall ailment. It helps you identify the breakpoints, which are otherwise hidden.
Kano Model
Once again from the kit of Japanese product design and engineering management is another powerful technique- Kano Model. Initially adopted heavily in the automobile design space, the framework is immensely valuable to most insight generation activities.
The two axis of interest are: Functionality and Satisfaction. Functionality can be thought of what you offer and Satisfaction is the outcome. There are certain features/ offerings which, if missing can result in massive dissatisfaction, but if present, do not raise satisfaction levels — they are the Hygiene or must haves. While other features that quickly increase satisfaction levels but their absence is not felt — are the Differentiators, or good-to have. However, the middle path is the Performers, where you can start to differentiate. Needless to say that today’s good to have will become tomorrow’s must have, as in the case with seat belts in cars.
The model helps distill the customer expectations into ‘hygiene’, ‘performers’ and ‘differentiators’ and help in being more targeted.
Job to be Done
You market research and customer understanding suggests that she needs a ‘hole in the wall’. But before you get busy with designing your next generation drill machine (light weight and pink in color), you must ask the question: Why does she need a hole in the wall? May be, to hang a painting! Why hang a painting? May be, to make the wall look good. Why? Perhaps, to have a more beautiful home. Alas, she’s not looking at a drill machine, instead she want a beautiful looking home. That’s her job to be done.
A ‘Job to be Done’ is the most elemental requirement for which a customer ‘hires’ your product or service. On the hierarchy of needs, one could think of it as a ‘need’ (a beautiful home), instead of a ‘want’ (hang paintings), or a ‘desire’ (light weight drill machine). But since you are a drill machine maker, you can’t but think of a machine, and not the real ask.
By distilling your offering into the most essential requirement it serves, as perceived by the customer, you get to the real problem and possibly solve it. The credit of this framework goes to Harvard's late Clayton Christensen.
User/ Buyer/ Customer persona
So far, we have delved into problems or situations, but not into the individual who’s facing the problem, or whom you wish to address. In comes the Buyer Persona. A persona, which literally means a mask, is the description of a typical customer or user of a product/ services, and typifies the target market.
You can probe the customer on multiple dimensions. However, the most salient are: Demographics (age, gender, income, educational background, family size, etc); Psychographic (risk propensity, experimentative, introvert, outgoing, etc); Objectives/ Aims (what does the person want to achieve through your offering); Needs/ Wants (to achieve the objective what are the necessities); Fears/ Anxieties (what would the person avoid or despise); Frequency of usage (rarely/ frequently); Communication channels (how to get customer’s attention); Sales/ outreach channels (how to get the offerings to the customer); and Influencers/ opinion leaders (who all influence the decisions); among others.
This is not an exhaustive listing. But indicating enough of what to expect from a typical customer.
Empathy Map
Empathy is the ability to understand other’s emotional makeup, their needs, aspirations, fears and desires without them explicitly stating. In simpler terms, it’s about putting yourself in other person’s position and acting accordingly. Empathy is key to problem exploration, especially those involving multiple stakeholders.
An empathy map is a description of a customer’s/ user’s various input, processing and output channels. On the input side, you have the ‘See and Hear’ (what does the customer observe while facing the issues); the processing includes ‘Think and Feel’ (what’s going in customer’s head and guts); and the output, in the form of ‘Say and Do’ (how customer responds). It’s useful to also capture the Gains (advantages sought), and Pains (side-effects, drawbacks) during an experience. The way to get to the problems is through interviews, where you ask descriptive questions and get to understanding the problems better.
A good way to structure an interview is to adopt the Ethos- Pathos- Logos framework. Your interview starts with Ethos (ethics/ credibility), where you set the context and establish your credibility with your audience. The Pathos (emotions/ rapport) is about building a connect with your audience, where they get to trust your intention and open up. Here, you ask some general questions, to ease your interviewees. Lastly, Logos (logic/ analysis) is when you get to the brass tacks and ask more serious questions about the matter, albeit mostly open ended questions.
I sincerely hope you found this discourse useful. I would love to hear from you on what else could be included here. For more methods on problem discovery and creative problem solving, you are encouraged to check out my two books: Design Your Thinking and Design Your Career.
