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Over the course of my career as a Product Manager, I have seen companies embark on the development of a solution that didn't have a problem. Often what happens is that the solution was a possible answer to a past opportunity but was rejected for that opportunity for some reason. The rejected solution, especially if it has some interesting innovation keeps on living in the memory of the organization and it's key influencers and is essentially looking for a problem. Often this ends up being a the square peg that needs to fit in a round hole and the product fails. This is because the product manager did not do his/her job or was not allowed to. As a product manager, you determine a problem space. A space in the market where money can be made because there is an issue to address. Sometimes, the opportunity enables you to deploy your already developed technology in a different market segment, however if you need to innovate, you need to start from scratch. In that scenario, it is vital to put a precise problem statement in place before you proceed down the track of defining the solution. This implies you must learn about the consumer you are planning to target and learning about the problem you are seeking to address for them from all angles, even those loosely associated with the problem. when that step is finished and the problem statement has been created and talked about with your team, should you go down the road of solution brainstorming. Make sure to objectively examine every prospective solution in reference to the problem statement . You can maintain your focus on the problem by being explicit about what you are aiming to solve. One recommendation is to create a visual overview that is posted in the team work environment. It ought to incorporate the explanation of the problem area, the consumer requirements and observations. During the course of your solution assessment you should seek some kind of customer verification, as you garner observations, add them to the workspace. As you develop solution opportunities for the problem statement, fix your team in the problem, consumer requirements and up-to-date list of observations. I often recommend accomplishing this with an official meeting where the product team evaluates, updates and adds to the material. While on a recent product program, I made the mistake of getting attached to the solution instead of the problem. Me, the team and my management had come to be so attached to the solution that we kept trying to improve the solution rather than recognizing the solution we had chosen was not a good fit for the problem statement. Preferably instead, we really should have pivoted to another solution much earlier. With this article I have tried to illustrate the importance of anchoring yourself in the problem space so you can evaluate multiple solutions and pick the best one. To read more articles about product management and connect with other product managers, click through to Product Management on WyzeMe
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