Why Develop A Problem Map?
Early on in a project, it’s important to take the time to ensure you have a shared understanding of the problem you are solving. While the work of “sense making” and “problem framing” will continue to happen throughout the process, mapping out the problem as a group early on can prevent you from going too far down the wrong path.
Using a consensus-driven approach to develop a problem map means you have shared language for what the problem is—or what you think the problem is—as you move forward. Problem mapping helps you think through questions like:
What is the actual problem you’re trying to solve?
For whom is this a problem?
What are the symptoms of the problem?
What would success look like?
What’s standing in our way?
What’s the situation/environment you’re working with, as you know it so far?
You will come back to your problem map often when you realize “oh, that’s not what we thought was going on” when you zoom in on a specific part of the problem. The problem map will help you validate and correct your assumptions about the problem as you work to develop solutions.
Mapping out the problem area can help you identify the important pieces of an open problem. You probably come across a lot of closed problems in your work. For closed problems, a single solution exists and you’ll recognize it when you see it. You have expertise, experiences, processes, and hierarchy for helping tackle closed problems. For open problems, however, it looks a bit different:
There may not be a solution
There may be many solutions
You may not know what a solution would look like
Open problems require your organization to be more adaptive, and traditional hierarchical approaches to problem solving often break down. Problem mapping is a great way of bringing together key stakeholders from across the organization and beyond to put into words the issues to which your project is responding. This provides a strong foundation for developing and testing solutions.