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Reprint: R1209F The rigor with which a trouble is defined is the most important factor in finding a skillful solution. Many organizations, even so, are not skillful at articulating their problems and identifying which ones are crucial to their strategies. They may fifty-fifty be trying to solve the wrong problems—missing opportunities and wasting resources in the process. The key is to ask the correct questions. The author describes a process that his house, InnoCentive, has used to assist clients ascertain and clear business, technical, social, and policy challenges then nowadays them to an online community of more than 250,000 solvers. The four-footstep process consists of asking a series of questions and using the answers to create a problem statement that will elicit novel ideas from an array of experts. EnterpriseWorks/VITA, a nonprofit organization, used this process to observe a depression-cost, lightweight, and convenient product that expands access to clean drinking water in the developing world.
"If I were given i 60 minutes to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it," Albert Einstein said.
Those were wise words, only from what I take observed, well-nigh organizations don't heed them when tackling innovation projects. Indeed, when developing new products, processes, or even businesses, most companies aren't sufficiently rigorous in defining the problems they're attempting to solve and articulating why those bug are important. Without that rigor, organizations miss opportunities, waste material resource, and terminate upwardly pursuing innovation initiatives that aren't aligned with their strategies. How many times have you lot seen a project go down one path only to realize in hindsight that it should have gone down another? How many times have you seen an innovation plan deliver a seemingly breakthrough result just to find that information technology can't be implemented or it addresses the wrong problem? Many organizations need to become better at request the correct questions so that they tackle the right problems.
I offering hither a process for defining issues that whatsoever organization can employ on its own. My firm, InnoCentive, has used it to help more than 100 corporations, government agencies, and foundations improve the quality and efficiency of their innovation efforts and, as a result, their overall performance. Through this process, which we call claiming-driven innovation, clients define and clear their business, technical, social, and policy bug and present them as challenges to a customs of more than 250,000 solvers—scientists, engineers, and other experts who hail from 200 countries—on InnoCentive.com, our innovation market. Successful solvers have earned awards of $5,000 to $1 1000000.
Since our launch, more than 10 years ago, we take managed more than 2,000 problems and solved more than than half of them—a much higher proportion than nearly organizations achieve on their own. Indeed, our success rates have improved dramatically over the years (34% in 2006, 39% in 2009, and 57% in 2022), which is a function of the increasing quality of the questions nosotros pose and of our solver customs. Interestingly, even unsolved problems have been tremendously valuable to many clients, allowing them to cancel sick-fated programs much earlier than they otherwise would accept so redeploy their resource.
In our early on years, we focused on highly specific technical problems, but we accept since expanded, taking on everything from bones R&D and production development to the health and safety of astronauts to cyberbanking services in developing countries. We now know that the rigor with which a problem is defined is the nigh important factor in finding a suitable solution. But we've seen that most organizations are not adept at articulating their problems conspicuously and concisely. Many have considerable difficulty fifty-fifty identifying which bug are crucial to their missions and strategies.
In fact, many clients have realized while working with united states of america that they may not be tackling the right problems. Consider a company that engages InnoCentive to find a lubricant for its manufacturing mechanism. This exchange ensues:
InnoCentive staffer: "Why do you need the lubricant?"
Client's engineer: "Because we're now expecting our machinery to practise things it was not designed to do, and it needs a particular lubricant to operate."
InnoCentive staffer: "Why don't you supplant the machinery?"
Customer'southward engineer: "Because no ane makes equipment that exactly fits our needs."
This raises a deeper question: Does the company demand the lubricant, or does it need a new way to make its product? It could be that rethinking the manufacturing process would requite the firm a new basis for competitive reward. (Request questions until you lot get to the root cause of a problem draws from the famous V Whys problem-solving technique developed at Toyota and employed in Vi Sigma.)
The example is similar many we've seen: Someone in the bowels of the organization is assigned to fix a very specific, nearly-term trouble. But because the firm doesn't employ a rigorous procedure for agreement the dimensions of the problem, leaders miss an opportunity to accost underlying strategic issues. The situation is exacerbated by what Stefan Thomke and Donald Reinertsen have identified as the fallacy of "The sooner the project is started, the sooner information technology will exist finished." (Run across "6 Myths of Product Evolution," HBR May 2022.) Organizational teams speed toward a solution, fearing that if they spend besides much fourth dimension defining the problem, their superiors volition punish them for taking so long to get to the starting line.
Ironically, that approach is more likely to waste matter time and money and reduce the odds of success than one that strives at the outset to reach an in-depth agreement of the trouble and its importance to the firm. With this in mind, we developed a iv-stride process for defining and articulating problems, which nosotros take honed with our clients. Information technology consists of asking a series of questions and using the answers to create a thorough trouble statement. This process is important for two reasons. Commencement, it rallies the arrangement effectually a shared agreement of the problem, why the firm should tackle it, and the level of resource information technology should receive. Firms that don't engage in this process often allocate too few resources to solving major bug or also many to solving low-priority or wrongly divers ones. It's useful to assign a value to the solution: An organization will exist more willing to devote considerable time and resources to an effort that is shown to represent a $100 1000000 market place opportunity than to an initiative whose value is much less or is unclear. Second, the process helps an system cast the widest possible net for potential solutions, giving internal and external experts in disparate fields the data they need to crack the trouble.
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To illustrate how the process works, we'll describe an initiative to expand access to make clean drinking water undertaken past the nonprofit EnterpriseWorks/VITA, a division of Relief International. EWV's mission is to foster economical growth and raise the standard of living in developing countries by expanding access to technologies and helping entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses.
The organization chose Jon Naugle, its technical director, equally the initiative's "problem champion." Individuals in this role should accept a deep understanding of the field or domain and be capable program administrators. Because problem champions may also exist charged with implementing solutions, a proven leader with the authorisation, responsibility, and resources to come across the project through can be invaluable in this part, specially for a larger and more strategic undertaking. Naugle, an engineer with more than 25 years of agricultural and rural-development feel in East and West Africa and the Caribbean, fit the nib. He was supported by specialists who understood local marketplace conditions, available materials, and other disquisitional bug related to the delivery of drinking h2o.
Step 1: Constitute the Need for a Solution
The purpose of this step is to articulate the problem in the simplest terms possible: "We are looking for X in club to attain Z as measured by W." Such a statement, alike to an elevator pitch, is a phone call to arms that clarifies the importance of the issue and helps secure resources to accost it. This initial framing answers 3 questions:
What is the bones need?
This is the essential problem, stated conspicuously and concisely. It is important at this phase to focus on the need that's at the heart of the trouble instead of jumping to a solution. Defining the telescopic is also important. Clearly, looking for lubricant for a slice of machinery is unlike from seeking a radically new manufacturing procedure.
The basic need EWV identified was admission to clean drinking water for the estimated one.1 billion people in the world who lack it. This is a pressing effect fifty-fifty in areas that have enough of rainfall, considering the h2o is not finer captured, stored, and distributed.
What is the desired outcome?
Answering this question requires understanding the perspectives of customers and other beneficiaries. (The Five Whys approach can be very helpful.) Once again, avoid the temptation to favor a detail solution or arroyo. This question should exist addressed qualitatively and quantitatively whenever possible. A loftier-level simply specific goal, such as "improving fuel efficiency to 100 mpg past 2022," can be helpful at this stage.
In answering this question, Naugle and his team realized that the outcome had to be more than than access to water; the admission had to be convenient. Women and children in countries such equally Republic of uganda oftentimes must walk long distances to fetch water from valleys and then comport it uphill to their villages. The desired consequence EWV defined was to provide h2o for daily family unit needs without requiring enormous expenditures of fourth dimension and energy.
Who stands to benefit and why?
Answering this question compels an organization to identify all potential customers and beneficiaries. It is at this stage that you empathise whether, say, yous are solving a lubricant problem for the engineer or for the head of manufacturing—whose definitions of success may vary considerably.
If the trouble you want to solve is industrywide, it's crucial to understand why the market has failed to address information technology.
By pondering this question, EWV came to see that the benefits would accrue to individuals and families as well equally to regions and countries. Women would spend less fourth dimension walking to call up h2o, giving them more time for working in the field or in outside employment that would bring their families needed income. Children would be able to attend school. And over the longer term, regions and countries would benefit from the improved education and productivity of the population.
Step 2: Justify the Need
The purpose of answering the questions in this footstep is to explain why your organization should effort to solve the problem.
Is the effort aligned with our strategy?
In other words, will satisfying the need serve the system's strategic goals? Information technology is non unusual for an organization to be working on problems that are no longer in sync with its strategy or mission. In that instance, the effort (and perhaps the whole initiative) should be reconsidered.
In the case of EWV, simply improving admission to clean drinking water wouldn't be plenty; to fit the organization's mission, the solution should generate economical development and opportunities for local businesses. It needed to involve something that people would purchase.
In improver, you should consider whether the problem fits with your firm'southward priorities. Since EWV's other projects included providing access to affordable products such as cookstoves and treadle pumps, the drinking h2o project was appropriate.
What are the desired benefits for the company, and how will nosotros measure them?
In for-profit companies, the desired do good could be to reach a revenue target, achieve a certain market share, or attain specific bicycle-time improvements. EWV hoped to further its goal of existence a recognized leader in helping the globe'south poor by transferring engineering science through the private sector. That benefit would be measured past market impact: How many families are paying for the solution? How is information technology affecting their lives? Are sales and installation creating jobs? Given the potential benefits, EWV deemed the priority to be loftier.
How will nosotros ensure that a solution is implemented?
Assume that a solution is found. Someone in the organization must be responsible for conveying it out—whether that means installing a new manufacturing technology, launching a new business, or commercializing a product innovation. That person could exist the problem champion, only he or she could also exist the director of an existing sectionalisation, a cross-functional team, or a new department.
At EWV, Jon Naugle was besides put in accuse of carrying out the solution. In addition to his technical background, Naugle had a rail record of successfully implementing similar projects. For example, he had served every bit EWV'southward country director in Niger, where he oversaw a component of a World Bank pilot project to promote pocket-sized-scale private irrigation. His part of the project involved getting the private sector to manufacture treadle pumps and manually drill wells.
Information technology is important at this stage to initiate a high-level conversation in the organization about the resources a solution might require. This can seem premature—after all, you're notwithstanding defining the problem, and the field of possible solutions could exist very big—simply it's actually not too early to begin exploring what resources your organization is willing and able to devote to evaluating solutions and and then implementing the best ane. Even at the outset, yous may have an inkling that implementing a solution will be much more expensive than others in the organization realize. In that case, it's of import to communicate a rough estimate of the money and people that will be required and to make certain that the organization is willing to continue down this path. The result of such a discussion might be that some constraints on resourcing must exist built into the problem statement. Early in its drinking h2o project, EWV prepare a cap on how much it would devote to initial enquiry and the testing of possible solutions.
At present that you have laid out the demand for a solution and its importance to the organization, y'all must define the trouble in detail. This involves applying a rigorous method to ensure that you accept captured all the information that someone—including people in fields far removed from your industry—might need to solve the problem.
Footstep 3: Contextualize the Problem
Examining by efforts to find a solution can save time and resource and generate highly innovative thinking. If the trouble is industrywide, information technology's crucial to understand why the marketplace has failed to address it.
What approaches have we tried?
The aim hither is to find solutions that might already exist in your arrangement and identify those that it has disproved. By answering this question, you lot can avoid reinventing the wheel or going down a dead finish.
In previous efforts to expand access to clean water, EWV had offered products and services ranging from manually drilled wells for irrigation to filters for household h2o treatment. Every bit with all its projects, EWV identified products that low-income consumers could afford and, if possible, that local entrepreneurs could manufacture or service. Every bit Naugle and his team revisited those efforts, they realized that both solutions worked simply if a water source, such as surface h2o or a shallow aquifer, was shut to the household. Equally a result, they decided to focus on rainwater—which falls everywhere in the world to a greater or lesser extent—as a source that could achieve many more than people. More specifically, the team turned its attending to the concept of rainwater harvesting. "Rainwater is delivered directly to the end user," Naugle says. "It's as close equally you lot can become to a piped h2o arrangement without having a piped h2o supply."
What have others tried?
EWV'south investigation of previous attempts at rainwater harvesting involved reviewing research on the topic, conducting 5 field studies, and surveying 20 countries to ask what technology was being used, what was and was not working, what prevented or encouraged the utilise of various solutions, how much the solutions cost, and what role authorities played.
"I of the key things we learned from the surveys," Naugle says, "was that once you lot have a hard roof—which many people do—to use as a drove surface, the nearly expensive thing is storage."
Here was the problem that needed to be solved. EWV establish that existing solutions for storing rainwater, such as concrete tanks, were too expensive for low-income families in developing countries, so households were sharing storage tanks. Only because no one took ownership of the communal facilities, they often fell into disrepair. Consequently, Naugle and his squad homed in on the concept of a low-cost household rainwater-storage device.
Their research into prior solutions surfaced what seemed initially similar a promising approach: storing rainwater in a 525-gallon jar that was almost as alpine as an developed and iii times equally wide. In Thailand, they learned, v 1000000 of those jars had been deployed over five years. Subsequently farther investigation, however, they institute that the jars were made of cement, which was bachelor in Thailand at a low price. More important, the land's good roads fabricated information technology possible to industry the jars in ane location and transport them in trucks around the state. That solution wouldn't piece of work in areas that had neither cement nor loftier-quality roads. Indeed, through interviews with villagers in Republic of uganda, EWV establish that even empty polyethylene barrels big enough to hold only l gallons of h2o were hard to carry along a path. It became articulate that a feasible storage solution had to exist light enough to be carried some distance in areas without roads.
What are the internal and external constraints on implementing a solution?
Now that you have a better idea of what you want to accomplish, it's time to revisit the effect of resources and organizational commitment: Do you accept the necessary back up for soliciting and then evaluating possible solutions? Are you lot sure that you tin obtain the money and the people to implement the near promising ane?
External constraints are just as important to evaluate: Are there problems concerning patents or intellectual-property rights? Are at that place laws and regulations to be considered? Answering these questions may require consultation with diverse stakeholders and experts.
Do you have the necessary support for soliciting and evaluating possible solutions? Do y'all accept the coin and the people to implement the most promising one?
EWV's exploration of possible external constraints included examining government policies regarding rainwater storage. Naugle and his squad institute that the governments of Republic of kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Vietnam supported the idea, but the strongest proponent was Uganda'southward government minister of water and the surround, Maria Mutagamba. Consequently, EWV decided to examination the storage solution in Uganda.
Stride 4: Write the Problem Statement
Now it'southward time to write a full description of the problem you're seeking to solve and the requirements the solution must meet. The problem argument, which captures all that the organization has learned through answering the questions in the previous steps, helps establish a consensus on what a viable solution would be and what resources would be required to accomplish it.
A total, clear clarification as well helps people both inside and outside the organization quickly grasp the issue. This is peculiarly of import because solutions to complex problems in an industry or discipline often come up from experts in other fields (see "Getting Unusual Suspects to Solve R&D Puzzles," HBR May 2007). For example, the method for moving viscous oil from spills in Arctic and subarctic waters from drove barges to disposal tanks came from a chemist in the cement industry, who responded to the Oil Spill Recovery Found's clarification of the problem in terms that were precise simply not specific to the petroleum industry. Thus the constitute was able to solve in a thing of months a challenge that had stumped petroleum engineers for years. (To read the institute's full problem statement, visit hbr.org/problem-statement1.)
Here are some questions that tin can assist yous develop a thorough problem statement:
Is the problem actually many bug?
The aim here is to drill down to root causes. Complex, seemingly insoluble issues are much more approachable when broken into discrete elements.
For EWV, this meant making it clear that the solution needed to exist a storage product that private households could afford, that was light enough to be hands transported on poor-quality roads or paths, and that could exist hands maintained.
What requirements must a solution meet?
EWV conducted all-encompassing on-the-ground surveys with potential customers in Uganda to identify the must-have versus the nice-to-have elements of a solution. (See the sidebar "Elements of a Successful Solution.") It didn't thing to EWV whether the solution was a new device or an adaptation of an existing one. As well, the solution didn't need to exist one that could exist mass-produced. That is, it could be something that local small-scale entrepreneurs could manufacture.
Experts in rainwater harvesting told Naugle and his team that their target price of $20 was unachievable, which meant that subsidies would be required. Just a subsidized product was confronting EWV's strategy and philosophy.
Which problem solvers should we appoint?
The dead cease EWV striking in seeking a $20 solution from those experts led the system to conclude that information technology needed to enlist every bit many experts exterior the field as possible. That is when EWV decided to engage InnoCentive and its network of 250,000 solvers.
What information and linguistic communication should the problem argument include?
To engage the largest number of solvers from the widest variety of fields, a problem statement must come across the twin goals of being extremely specific but not unnecessarily technical. It shouldn't comprise industry or discipline jargon or presuppose knowledge of a particular field. It may (and probably should) include a summary of previous solution attempts and detailed requirements.
With those criteria in heed, Naugle and his squad crafted a trouble argument. (The following is the abstract; for the full problem statement, visit hbr.org/trouble-statement2.) "EnterpriseWorks is seeking design ideas for a low-toll rainwater storage organization that tin exist installed in households in developing countries. The solution is expected to facilitate access to clean h2o at a household level, addressing a problem that affects millions of people worldwide who are living in impoverished communities or rural areas where access to make clean h2o is limited. Domestic rainwater harvesting is a proven technology that can exist a valuable option for accessing and storing h2o year round. Notwithstanding, the high cost of available rainwater storage systems makes them well beyond the achieve of low-income families to install in their homes. A solution to this trouble would not only provide convenient and affordable admission to deficient water resources just would as well allow families, peculiarly the women and children who are commonly tasked with water drove, to spend less time walking distances to collect h2o and more time on activities that tin bring in income and improve the quality of life."
To engage the largest number of solvers from the widest diverseness of fields, a problem statement must meet the twin goals of existence extremely specific but not unnecessarily technical.
What do solvers need to submit?
What information most the proposed solution does your organisation demand in order to invest in information technology? For instance, would a well-founded hypothetical arroyo be sufficient, or is a full-blown prototype needed? EWV decided that a solver had to submit a written explanation of the solution and detailed drawings.
What incentives do solvers need?
The bespeak of asking this question is to ensure that the right people are motivated to address the problem. For internal solvers, incentives tin exist written into job descriptions or offered equally promotions and bonuses. For external solvers, the incentive might be a cash award. EWV offered to pay $15,000 to the solver who provided the all-time solution through the InnoCentive network.
How volition solutions be evaluated and success measured?
Addressing this question forces a company to be explicit about how it will evaluate the solutions information technology receives. Clarity and transparency are crucial to arriving at viable solutions and to ensuring that the evaluation process is fair and rigorous. In some cases a "we'll know it when we meet information technology" approach is reasonable—for example, when a visitor is looking for a new branding strategy. Nearly of the time, however, it is a sign that earlier steps in the process have not been approached with sufficient rigor.
EWV stipulated that it would evaluate solutions on their ability to meet the criteria of low cost, loftier storage chapters, low weight, and piece of cake maintenance. It added that it would prefer designs that were modular (so that the unit would be easier to transport) and adaptable or salvageable or had multiple functions (so that owners could reuse the materials afterwards the product's lifetime or sell them to others for various applications). The overarching goal was to keep costs low and to help poor families justify the purchase.
The Winner
Ultimately, the solution to EWV's rainwater-storage problem came from someone outside the field: a High german inventor whose company specialized in the blueprint of tourist submarines. The solution he proposed required no elaborate machinery; in fact, it had no pumps or moving parts. It was an established industrial technology that had non been practical to water storage: a plastic bag inside a plastic bag with a tube at the acme. The outer bag (fabricated of less-expensive, woven polypropylene) provided the construction's force, while the inner bag (made of more-expensive, linear depression-density polyethylene) was impermeable and could concur 125 gallons of water. The two-bag approach allowed the inner handbag to be thinner, reducing the price of the production, while the outer handbag was potent enough to contain a ton and a half of water.
The structure folded into a parcel the size of a briefcase and weighed near eight pounds. In short, the solution was affordable, commercially viable, could be easily transported to remote areas, and could exist sold and installed by local entrepreneurs. (Retailers make from $4 to $8 per unit of measurement, depending on the book they purchase. Installers of the gutters, downspout, and base earn about $vi.)
EWV developed an initial version and tested it in Uganda, where the organization asked end users such questions equally What do you lot call back of its weight? Does it run into your needs? Fifty-fifty mundane issues similar color came into play: The woven outer bags were white, which women pointed out would immediately look muddy. EWV modified the design on the ground of this input: For example, it changed the color of the device to dark-brown, expanded its size to 350 gallons (while keeping the target price of no more than than $twenty per 125 gallons of water storage), contradistinct its shape to go far more stable, and replaced the original siphon with an outlet tap.
After 14 months of field testing, EWV rolled out the commercial production in Uganda in March 2022. By the end of May 2022, 50 to 60 shops, village sales agents, and cooperatives were selling the product; more than 80 entrepreneurs had been trained to install it; and one,418 units had been deployed in eight districts in southwestern Uganda.
EWV deems this a success at this stage in the rollout. It hopes to brand the units available in 10 countries—and have tens or hundreds of thousands of units installed—within five years. Ultimately, it believes, millions of units will exist in use for a variety of applications, including household drinking water, irrigation, and construction. Interestingly, the main obstruction to getting people to purchase the device has been skepticism that something that comes in such a small-scale package (the size of a typical 5-gallon jerrican) can hold the equivalent of seventy jerricans. Believing that the remedy is to prove villagers the installed product, EWV is currently testing diverse promotion and marketing programs.As the EWV story illustrates, critically analyzing and clearly articulating a problem tin yield highly innovative solutions. Organizations that apply these simple concepts and develop the skills and discipline to ask better questions and define their problems with more rigor can create strategic advantage, unlock truly groundbreaking innovation, and drive better business performance. Asking better questions delivers better results.
A version of this article appeared in the September 2022 outcome of Harvard Business organization Review.
Source: https://hbr.org/2012/09/are-you-solving-the-right-problem
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