
Talk about the problem, not the solution - kategleason
http://katgleason.tumblr.com/post/47257463324/talk-about-the-problem-not-the-solution
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adrianhoward
_"one of the biggest mistakes “nontechnical” people make when communicating to
great hackers about product is that we try and tell them the solutions before
we ever tell them the problem"_

This is spot on.

I spend a bunch of my time helping ux, business and dev folk play nice
together. This is definitely one of the major problems and something I babble
on about to tedious extremes.

It's usually not as simple as a lack of trust though. It's more often things
like people not having good ways to communicate the problem (as opposed to
possible solutions). Or organisations being set up in such a way that the
technical folk aren't in-play at the point where problem discovery is
happening. Or the non-technical folk being assessed on "solution providing"
not "problem defining".... and so on.

Trust is sometimes an issue - but it's often not the major cause.

(There is also a class of tech folk in some organisations who aren't
interested in that level of problem - who want to get "the spec" and focus on
the implementation problems that interest them more.... but I don't think this
is the kind of tech folk the OP is talking about).

~~~
gyepi
> Or organisations being set up in such a way that the technical folk aren't
> in-play at the point where problem discovery is happening. Or the non-
> technical folk being assessed on "solution providing" not "problem
> defining".... and so on

 _This_ is the fundamental problem and is, I think, largely due to the fact
that the kinds of problems we are solving do not naturally fall into the neat
specialties into which most companies categorize their workers. Specialization
promotes serial thinking whereas what's needed is near simultaneous thinking
and _that_ requires deep communication (and smart people)

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kunle
I think the OP is on to a pretty big theme. Most of our lives we're taught to
solve problems, not to find them. The idea of an exam is that you're given a
bunch of problems to solve. Most people describing themselves would (or would
like to) score themselves highly on the ability to solve problems.

In an environment where everyone is smart and driven (such as SV), being a
good problem solver is just not enough. Being good at finding and articulating
valuable problems is much harder, and I would bet that more startups/founders
fail at this. Part of this is because, most people are never trained, and
never think to ask what makes a valuable problem.

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illyism
I think this is why I as an a graphic and web designer don't always enjoy
working on the projects of clients. Whenever they ask for a redesign they want
me to visualize and build the solution for them. They don't always ask me to
look at the problem and then think of the solution.

When I work on my own personal projects I get to do both, which is why the
work I do for myself is miles ahead of the work I do for clients.

~~~
gyepi
Over the years, I constantly remind my manager, clients, an colleagues to
bring me in much sooner than they think they need to. When that happens, the
problem definitions are much easier and the resulting solution works. Obvious,
when you think about it. The analogy I use is that if we were constructing
houses, then my role is both architect and builder.

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mikecane
Two things.

1) A clip from Moneyball: <http://youtu.be/HiB9L3dG-Aw>

2) I remember from a book about someone marketing in Japan. They were trying
to sell a rice cooker that could also cook other foods. They couldn't
understand why this convenience wouldn't sell. It seemed to solve a "problem."
In many consumer interviews, a passing comment revealed the new problem they
had actually created. Housewives feared that the taste of other foods would
creep into the rice and ruin it. They stopped selling the cooker.

~~~
auxbuss
I have one of those rice cookers. It's the single best piece of cooking
equipment I've ever owned. It has a Teflon pot, so flavours don't linger. We
cook chilli in it, wok-style fried rice dishes, baked fish, breakfast fry ups,
and a lot of boiled rice-based dishes. Awesome piece of kit.

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mikecarroll
This is also a big problem in health tech: the people that are good at
identifying the problems (doctors, public health officials, etc.) don't
communicate them but instead focus on convincing others to build their vision
of the solution (which tend to be inadequate, or even counterproductive).

Given that the author is the founder of health tech startup (EligibleAPI.com),
it's hard not to read this as being implicit in the post :)

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jey
"A&R" apparently means "artists and repertoire", which is a standard
department in a record label (and analogous to a tech company's R&D
department).

~~~
DrJokepu
It's more like business development rather than R&D. It's basically about
finding new talented recording artists (performers) and publishers/writers who
would be a good match for them.

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demian
I'm worried about the tendency to letting _just_ "nontechnical" people "define
the problem", and the general relegation of "technical" people to only build
and execute a vision.

Some people have a background that deals mostly in perception and form, while
others deals mostly in structure and function. If both balance strategic
trade-offs of the product, both are designers. If they only execute plans,
they are craftsmans and technicians.

Which one of them is better for "defining" the problem deppends on the
problem. Both can learn to have holistic vision, and how to understand where
their expertise and skills end.

There _are_ creative and intuitive technical people. They are out there, as
many as "artists" that can truly design products.

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namank
OP, what are your motivations behind this?

Anyways, this is right on the money. Finding the problem is an art in itself.
It's only once we find the root problem that we can design the holistic
solution, otherwise it's a whole bunch of patched held together by desperation
and neediness.

Example: if it turns out poverty is related to global warming and for the past
decade we've spend resources trying to rid poverty in isolation, we are all
sorts of screwed.

This is exactly the job of a Product Designer.

~~~
kategleason
hey namank, no motivation just sharing my thoughts. we're building
eligibleapi.com though if you want to check it out.

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hawleyal
Client: I want to get from this side of the river to the other side.

Provider: I think this bridge design will fit your needs.

