[Startup] What is 'real' problem? What is solution?
when we found a 'problem'
we need to figure out the problem is a real problem
then what is real problem??
- real problem is most fundamental cause
- real problem is something can be measure
- real probem is something can be solved
to measure whether the problem is real
I suggest to answer follow questions
1. Is it most fundamental cause?
- the outcome can not be the cause
- if there are more fundamental cause, then you can know that only 'the symptom' or 'the indicator' have been discovered not the real problem
- if you focus on the symptom or indicator, you can not solve the problem
ex)
If we have a fever, fever is not a problems. fever can be one of the indication of cold or some other disease. but disease itself is not a problem also because the cause of disease is something like virus or bacteria.
If your company is suffuring from income loss, income loss is a symptom not a problem. the problem that cause the income loss can be vary such as malfunctioning of supply channel and faling to make proper marketing
2. Is it mesurable?
- if a problem can not be measured, then you never know whether the problem has been improved
- To know the problem is mesurable, we need to define 'ideal condition' and figure out the gap between 'ideal condition' and 'current condition'
ex)
the confidence of the worker => hard to measure
the number of rejecting from supervisor => measurable, but not fundamental reason
the number of report without proper background data => measurable, but not fundamental reason
the level of writing skill of employee => measurable, fundamental
3. Is it possible to solve?
- if it is clear that the problem is one you can't solve, then you have to give up to solve that problem
- If you can not solve a problem, it is not problem anymore. it is more like disaster.
ex)
It will be rain tomorrow => we can't solve
The goverment decided to change the law => we can't solve
