Problem Statement

A problem statement is a concise document that frames the problem you're solving, articulates the impact on users and the business, and defines clear success criteria. It serves as the foundation for all subsequent product work by ensuring alignment on what problem to solve before jumping to how to solve it.

When to Use

• Starting a new initiative or project to establish shared understanding
• Realigning a drifted project back to its original intent
• Communicating up to leadership or stakeholders about priorities
• Evaluating whether a proposed solution actually addresses the core problem
• Onboarding new team members to provide context

When NOT to Use

• The problem is already agreed and engineering needs the spec -> use deliver-prd
• You want to propose and compare solution approaches -> use develop-solution-brief
• You are capturing customer motivation rather than a business problem -> use define-jtbd-canvas
• The "problem" is really an unvalidated assumption -> frame it with define-hypothesis and test it before committing a team to it