How I came up with 'Problem Statement' for a case study
- Arti Ramanathan
- Feb 12, 2022
- 3 min read
What’s a Problem Statement?
First of all, it’s important to not confuse problem statements with the design-thinking concept of a point-of-view statement or user-need statement. (These are commonly produced in the discovery phase, but they are typically created only at a later stage of discovery, after user research has been completed.)
Definition: A problem statement is a concise description of the problem that needs to be solved.
It’s a helpful scoping device, focusing the team on the problem it needs to explore and subsequently solve. A problem statement makes clear what needs to be done in discovery and what’s out of scope. Problem statements are also great communication tools; well-written ones can be used to gain buy-in from stakeholders on why it’s important to explore and solve the problem. (ref: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/problem-statements/)
The way problem statement evolved over my case study was a really interesting. The topic I chose being, "Solve the grocery wastage problem". Oh the myriad of directions I could go with that one! It started out as me trying to solve every possible issue including how to track perishables, how to solve food prep issues to looking in to user behaviors and habits.
Iteration 1 of the problem statement:
I love to go grocery shopping but most of the time after a busy day, I forget to make a list of items I need to get. I eyeball in to what is in my refrigerator and when I run out of milk and a see I need replenishment for produce, I run to the grocery store in the middle of doing other errands. I end up getting extra items which I may already have because I cannot remember whether I ran out of it or not. I also tend to forget something and have to make a run to the store again in a couple of days and this cycle repeats.
I do not like to do grocery shopping so I make most of my purchases online and go to the store only for more perishable goods like milk, eggs, etc. as and when required.
I like to make bulk purchases because I have small kids and going to a wholesale grocery store is extremely cost efficient and much easier than frequent small trips.
Iteration 2 of the problem statement:
I love to go grocery shopping but most of the time after a busy day, I forget to make a list of items I need to get. I eyeball in to what is in my refrigerator and when I run out of milk and a see I need replenishment for produce, I run to the grocery store in the middle of doing other errands. I end up getting extra items which I may already have because I cannot remember whether I ran out of it or not. I also tend to forget something and have to make a run to the store again in a couple of days and this cycle repeats.
I like to make bulk purchases because I have small kids and going to a wholesale grocery store is extremely cost efficient and much easier than frequent small trips.
I am very experienced and know exactly what I need so I have very less waste. I have a hard time buying online so if I need to make a few pantry purchases for the month, I make a list on pen and paper and hand it over to my son to complete the order online.
While trying to refine my problem statement, I realized that I was trying to solve a set of different 'problems' and not a specific problem which presents more chaos and unnecessary distractions. So I started to focus on constructing a statement based on this awesome article on medium:
A [user role] who feels [negative feeling]
about [reason] needs to [step]
but faces [obstacle].
A grocery shopper feels frustrated about their shopping experience because the shopper forgets items that were required and also over buys some other items to end up getting more items than needed.
This was it - narrowed it down to the basic problem faced by 80% of the user group surveyed. Coming up with a problem statement is by no means an easy task... Stay tuned for next learnings...
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