Do you diagnose correctly before jumping to solutions?

The logical solution or the right solution?

In an old high-rise building, residents complained about a slow elevator. Tired of waiting, they suggested replacing the elevator with a faster one or at least upgrading the motor—a very logical solution, it would seem. 

When the contractors arrived, they instead installed mirrors in the elevator lobby. Complaints dropped as residents now had something to occupy themselves with while waiting—their own reflections. 

This example highlights a central challenge in product development and innovation: the risk of prematurely committing to a specific solution without thoroughly exploring the problem’s various dimensions.  

This can lead to solutions that fail to fully address users' real needs or the deeper-rooted causes of the problem. 

Solving multidimensional problems

Problems, especially in complex fields like product development, are rarely one-dimensional. They may have layers of causes and effects, shaped by a range of user needs, technological constraints, market dynamics, and other factors.  

Without a thorough understanding of these aspects, your team may develop solutions that address only a symptom of the problem, not the underlying cause. 

Design Thinking offers a structured approach to explore and define the problem from multiple perspectives: 

• Empathy: By starting with empathy for users, your team gains a deeper understanding of their experiences, needs, and pain points. 

• Define: This insight is used to define the problem in a way that focuses on user needs, ensuring you are addressing the right problem. 

• Ideation: Generate a broad range of solutions, instead of stopping at the first obvious ones, and explore alternative ways to solve the problem. 

Test your solutions in sprints

Once the problem is defined through Design Thinking, iterative development cycles (sprints) can be used to experiment with and test different solutions: 

• Prototyping and testing: Early and repeated prototypes are tested with users to gather feedback, helping verify whether the solutions actually address the defined problem.
• Inspect and adapt: Continue an ongoing evaluation and adjustment, with each sprint ending in a retrospective that allows the team to reflect on what works and what needs improvement. 

By avoiding early commitment to a solution and instead pursuing an iterative, user-centered approach to problem-solving, your team minimises the risk of investing time, resources, and energy into developing solutions that don’t meet real user needs or address the wrong problems.