Problem blinded

Description

  • You found a problem! Problem is, it’s not the real problem and you’re treating the symptom not the cause. You’re also missing the structural forces and 4 comorbidities that are interacting with each other

Disproof

  • Rigorous, peer reviewed root cause analysis is usually a decent indicator

Consequences

  • Incomplete problems lead to incomplete solutions
  • And whilst it’s fine to sometimes minimally viable, partial solutions, you need to contact value early and often or else you’re going to have to keep building until you do
  • You may end up trying to remove Chesterton's fence and create more problems by solving the wrong one
  • If you’re not very clear on the problem space, you might have a big lag in discovering how to take your incomplete solution towards completion
  • You use your 'trust me bro' card, the bandwagon effect makes it snowball
    • You build, operationalise and try to sell a solution to a problem you’re convinced is The One only to find it Ain’t It
    • Months and millions go up in smoke

Causes

  • Usually a combination of noise from other stakeholders about this definitely being the problem
  • And / or the entire phase is being rushed and nobody is checking each other's work
  • This leads to satisficing / explanation bias where the plausibility of the reason you find means you stop looking for a real reason, or as I call it - problematic lamp shading

Approaches

  • Asking the question and answering honestly
  • Most of the time this is entirely within the product team's ability to resolve. It just takes awareness and courage