PM - Define the problem before solving it./문제를 풀기 전에, 문제를 정의하라.

"How to be a good Product Manager"라는 사이트에 올라온 글입니다.
PM 업무 일반에 관한 글들이 대부분이라 제약 PM 업무와는 약간 다르지만 그럴 듯한 글들이 간혹 있죠.^^
오늘의 글은 제가 평소 직원들에게 늘 하는 말이라서 참 신기하단 느낌이 들어 올려 봅니다.^^
문제가 뭔지도 모르는데, 무슨 해답이 있겠습니까?

경영자들 역시 스스로 고민해야 할 문제입니다.
우리 회사의 문제점은 무엇인가?
현재의 정책들이 그 문제점을 해결하기 위한 가장 효율적인 방법이 맞는가?
이러한 고민들을 최우선적으로 한 후에야, 방법을 찾아가야 하는데, 대부분의 회사들은 거꾸로 하는 것 같습니다.
문제의식도 없이 멍하니 있다가, 남의 회사에서 이거 해서 괜찮았다더라 하면 너도나도 다 따라하는...ㅡㅡ;
맨날 말도 안되는 걸로 밑에만 닥달하지 말고 스스로 공부 좀 하심이...^^
New posts from How To Be A Good Product Manager  
Define the problem before solving it

Posted: 09 Mar 2009 08:00 PM PDT

If you want to be a bad product manager, don’t worry as much about defining the problem as quickly finding the solution. Problems are usually very obvious and clear, and any time you spend dwelling on it is wasted time that could be spent on solving it. The sooner you start solving the problem, the soon you’ll have it figured out. How hard is it to define a problem, anyway?

If you want to be a good product manager, get a good understanding of the problem before you try and solve it. Product managers and many others unfortunately assume the problem is evident and jump right to solving it. However, ill-defined problems lead to ill-defined solutions.

Albert Einstein purportedly said that, given one hour to save the world, he would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes finding the solution.

One of the most important aspects of defining the problem is to “size” the problem properly. If you define the problem too narrowly, your possible solutions may be very limited and uncreative. If you define the problem too broadly, your solutions may be out of scope and irrelevant to the business context.

For example, pretend you are a product manager for a technology company which provides communication solutions for consumers. You are looking to identify unmet needs which your organization may be able to solve. This may seem very straightforward — simply talk with customers and prospects to identify unresolved problems, right? However, different definitions of the problem could produce drastically different solutions:

Taking a very narrow view — “people have problems communicating using email” — would lead to a very specific solution. Google’s GMail was developed based on observed problems users had with organizing and effectively using email. The scope was intentionally limited and focused on email and email alone.
Taking a slightly broader view — “people have problems communicating online” — would lead to a wider variety of different insights and potential solutions. Twitter and Facebook are two examples of solutions which fulfill the need to communicate online. They are different ways of communicating — not just email, obviously — though the focus is limited to web-based solutions.
Taking a very broad view — “people need a better way of communicating” — would open up an extremely wide range of potential solutions, not limited just to the web. This could include any of the above examples as well as other solutions like OnStar and push-to-talk on mobile phones.
This is not to say that any one approach is better than the other. How you define the problem depends on your organization, your market, and your overall strategy. An automobile company may define the problem space related to transportation in a different way than a conglomerate whose products range from bicycles and motorcycles to airplanes and subway cars.

Going too far in either extreme may be unproductive and inefficient in many situations. Defining the problem too narrowly may inevitably only lead to incremental enhancements when broader innovations are desired. Similarly, defining the problem too broadly may produce irrelevant ideas which do not fit with the corporate strategy and which would never be pursued by the organization.

Product managers need to avoid the rush to write requirements and add features without having a clear understanding of what they are doing and why. Even problems which may seem clear can benefit from a fresh look and a new perspective. Qualitative research can help refine and redefine issues products are facing and uncover new ways to look at the market — and it need not take months of work and thousands of dollars to be effective.

As with many apsects of product management, extra time and effort up front defining the problem can save time and effort down the road. Framing a problem properly can help product managers balance their innovation efforts, focus research and customer understanding, and help clearly define their product and portfolio roadmap.