Problem Framing
Frameworks for defining the real problem clearly so teams can stop solving the wrong thing.
Recommended Frameworks
First Principles: The Key to Disruptive Innovation
Start from the basics and find a new, more logical way of doing things.
5W1H: System Thinking Framework for Complete Understanding
Gather comprehensive information and provide clarity in various situations.
Zoom-In and Zoom-Out Model: Adapting Your Focus for Success
Allows you to handle challenges with clarity, whether you need to see the big picture or focus on the details.
Descartes Critical Thinking: Approach the Truth
Master the process of discovering truth via Descartes' 4 key principles.
FAQ
Use one when the issue feels vague, overloaded, contested, or poorly scoped. It is especially valuable when people are already proposing solutions but still disagree on what the problem is.
It prevents teams from mis-scoping the issue, confusing symptoms with causes, chasing noise, and wasting effort on solutions that address the wrong question.
Problem Framing focuses on defining the issue and its boundaries. Critical Thinking focuses more broadly on reasoning quality, assumptions, evidence, and logic across many kinds of analysis.
Defining the problem in terms of a preferred solution. Once that happens, teams narrow the option space too early and lose the chance to examine the issue more objectively.