
Ask HN: I have no problems to solve - jkaykin
It&#x27;s interesting, everyone says to build something that solves one of my own problems. That&#x27;s a valid suggestions seeing as solving ones problems can be both exciting and engaging. But when I think about it, I really don&#x27;t have any problems of my own to solve. I have worked on side projects before but they usually end up on the back burner because I lose interest. Maybe I am not realizing that I do have problems that can be solved with tech.<p>So my question is: How do I find problems to solve (mine or others, doesn&#x27;t matter)?
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thecooluser
I faced this issue myself. Then I realised something:

I wasn't striving for anything.

People face problems when they have an ambition. They want to get from A to B
and the process in-between is often messy so they use software or information
to make it less messy.

What I'd suggest, then, is to start picking up hobbies for the sake of having
hobbies. I started going to the gym, for instance, and have thought of much
better ways to create a workout tracker.

I started writing novels a couple of years ago and have the insight into
making a better application for novelists.

When I started traveling, that also sparked ideas.

Stop thinking about solving a problem. You should really focus on giving
yourself problems. Be a beginner again. Create an imbalance in your life, then
resolve it.

:)

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georgemcbay
I'm sure the problem is that you just aren't thinking about things hard
enough* or just lack enough motivation to really follow-through, which is a
separate (primarily non-technical) issue to solve. You would be unique in the
world if you really had no problems that could be solved/helped with
technology.

However, despite the common wisdom of scratching our own itches, when I'm
working on outside hobby projects I often find it more interesting to solve
other people's problems because it is more of a learning experience. Find a
lab scientist or a teacher or a rapper (Jay-Z alone has 99 problems), and
engage them in figuring out what problems they have that can be solved by
technology. You are likely to learn a lot about what they do, which is cool,
and you'll be more motivated by having a collaborator to work with on solving
that person's problems. This may even serve you well commercially, if you
care, because you can more easily find underserved niches. Every programmer
wants to write a code editor, not every programmer wants to write networked,
collaborative curriculum planning software.

[* Or perhaps you are thinking of them too hard. Sometimes it is good to just
constantly be asking yourself if there is a better way to be doing whatever it
is you are currently doing as opposed to sitting down and having some
fruitless "brainstorming" session where you are trying to analyze what your
problems are out of context.]

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artas_bartas
One simple way to find new problems is to follow the advice once given by Deep
Throat: "Follow the money!"

What I mean is look into your own spending patterns (or those of your friends/
parents/ neighbours/ colleagues) and ask yourself why does something cost as
much as it does? Can it be made more cheaper? Or if it is already cheap, can
the difference consumer saves be used for some meaningful, complementary
services/items?

Thinking this way can reveal many interesting and unexpected answers and the
best thing is that this quest takes you out of your room, since you have to
follow the money trail and understand how different businesses work. Doing
that as an outsider is likely to spark many interesting thoughts.

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cunninghamd
I know!

I was the same, no real "problems" to solve, and the few ideas I did have
amounted to fairly straight-forward CRUD-style solutions. I started
implementing one of them, and then started reading an Algorithms book.

From there, a few very old ideas coalesced in my brain, and exploded. Now, I'm
not solving a MY problem, so much as solving a challenging problem that I
think will hold my attention for awhile. I'm hoping to have something to push
out to github in the next few weeks.

Morale of the story: search for problems to solve, and you'll solve the
problem of not having a problem to solve. :)

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shawnreilly
I have quite the opposite problem, too many problems to solve, and not enough
time/resources to build everything. I figured I could describe my thought
process, and maybe it will help you come up with ideas too. It's a pretty
basic three step process; 1. choose a topic (or industry, or domain, or space,
or whatever you want to call it) that you personally enjoy, or have deep
knowledge/experience. 2. on a white board, write down all the different
aspects or components that comprise whatever topic you choose, and next to
each component, write down a person or role that's associated with each
component. 3. take each association you've built and look for two things from
the person's and/or role's perspective; within the context of the topic, look
for a pain point and/or a new capability. In my opinion, the key is being able
to rationalize things from other people's perspectives. Building the
associations is a good exercise that will get the brainstorming going.
Choosing a topic you personally enjoy or have deep knowledge/experience will
provide you with insights and unique perspectives that you can leverage to
build something of value. Some of my best ideas were the result of correlating
these insights and perspectives with the pain points and/or capabilities
identified above. Hopefully this thought process will help you come up with
some killer ideas!

Regarding the problem I'm experiencing, I've been experimenting with a new
approach that is similar to the Idealab approach used by Bill Gross.
Understanding the effectiveness of focusing on one project at a time, this
experimental approach is to validate ideas, protect their IP, and then build
teams to execute independently. So while I work on one Project at a time, the
team(s) I've built can execute other Projects (and resulting
Products/Businesses). The value that I'm providing is the validation of each
idea with potential customers, as well as the protection of any associated IP
(via patents). The team would, of course, own the majority of each Business
and I would take a small percentage. The way I see it, an approach like this
is great because of two reasons; one, it's great practice for me in terms of
team-building and customer validation. two, I get to watch these crazy ideas
be executed, resulting in new Products that would make life better for
everyone (me included!). It will be interesting to see how this works out! If
you would be interested in checking out some of these Projects, let me know!

~~~
jkaykin
I would love to see some of the projects!

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benologist
You need to look at the more discrete problems you face - there's probably
lots of things you do that take 100x longer than they should because they
haven't been automated or optimized for today's world.

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dudus
If not having problems is a problem to you maybe you can start there.

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namuol
Hmm. I just posted this Ask HN:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6574962](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6574962)

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japhyr
What do you do besides programming? Most of the projects I end up taking on
come out of my non-programming interests.

~~~
jeena
Yeah, that why I tried to build a home brewing automaton
[https://jeena.net/brewing-automaton](https://jeena.net/brewing-automaton) but
yeah, I didn't get very far yet besides buying all the parts ^^

~~~
japhyr
What do your friends and family do? Find someone you know who is really good
at what they do, in a non-programming field. Ask about their workflow, and try
to find the areas where they could have better tools. Then start to build
those tools.

The most innovative and useful ideas seem to come from a mix of high level
domain expertise, and high level technical ability. If you don't have both of
those, find someone who has the piece you are missing.

Edit: sorry, assumed you were op.

