How to Develop A Problem Map?

There are a handful of tools that are useful for mapping out a problem or new opportunity. They all have a few things in common:

  • Bring together a diverse group of stakeholders for best results

  • Start broad to ensure you don’t overlook anything, but converge as you go 

  • Help you think through where (how deep) you want to focus your efforts

Obstacles Framework

An obstacles framework is a participatory method for identifying and theming the specific issues that stand in the way of achieving your desired outcomes. In a workshop format, participants are asked to respond to a specific focus question. After starting solo, ideas are shared and then clustered together as a group. In naming the clusters, the group is able to articulate specific pieces of the overall problem—pieces that can be used to focus the groups activities moving forward.

In the Building With Mission process, the obstacles framework was used to explore a problem space with one of our demonstration sites, St. Joseph's Continuing Care Centre in Cornwall, Ontario. In conversations with the organization ahead of the workshops, two questions were prioritized for participants to respond to:

  • What are the biggest housing gaps faced by seniors in our community?

  • What barriers might our organization face in building housing for seniors?

In this case, eight themes were identified for each focus question (read more about the themes in this accompanying blog post). These themes inform the project’s next steps and become a touchstone to be used throughout the project to validate and adjust the organization’s understanding of the problem.

Alternatively, instead of asking about obstacles specifically, you can use a similar process to conduct a SWOT Analysis (internal strengths and weaknesses, external opportunities and threats).

Problem Tree (or mind mapping)

A problem tree, sometimes referred to as a causal analysis, is a tool for articulating the symptoms and causes of a specific problem. If the problem space you are working in is sufficiently large, you may have to do this a few times for different aspects of the problem. 

Whether you are doing this yourself, in a small group, or in a large workshop, start by writing down all of the symptoms and causes for a problem. Start at the top (with the most superficial symptom) or the bottom (with the deepest root cause) and work your way through. If you start at the top, place the first symptom at the top and ask “what contributes to this symptom”. As you add ideas, it may be helpful to add connecting lines to ensure you can keep track of the different paths. You can similarly start at the bottom with a root cause, and ask “what is impacted by this cause” as you work your way up the problem tree.

Take time at the end to reflect on the paths through the problem tree, starting at the bottom of the roots up and out to the tips of the branches. Ensure you aren’t missing any obvious connecting lines.

Five whys

This tool can be as simple as its name suggests, but is a powerful way to quickly get to the root cause for a particular problem. Start by asking “why is this a problem?”, and generate multiple ideas in response to that question. Pick the most appropriate response to the question and rewrite it as another “why question”.

You will repeat this process, responding to the why question and rewriting the most appropriate response as another why question until you get to the root cause—usually about five times. 

Now, just because you know the deepest root cause, does not mean that you need to tackle the problem at that level (you probably don’t have the resources to tackle capitalism or health system funding reform in its entirety). Instead, reflect on what level of the problem your group is best equipped to focus on. Even though you will focus just on one level, having the shared language for the various levels will be helpful. 

It’s important to come back to your problem map often. Typically, a bias toward action is a good thing in this process. It can be very motivating when you make a new connection and you want to implement something right away. Sometimes people say “don’t jump to solutions”, but everyone does—it’s human nature. Instead, you can jump to solutions as long as you jump back to the problem, oscillating back and forth until you have a strong understanding of both. The best way to do this is to ask “what problem is this solution trying to solve”, then adjust your problem map based on what you learn.