Key Problem

Key Problem (Definition)

Problem
A problem is a gap between the present state (conditions right now) and the goal state (desired conditions in the future).
Key Problem
The one problem among all the current problems that will most likely provide the most rewards to the problem solver after it is solved.

Examples

  1. Area: Health
    1. Concerns: Stress. Poor sleep. Lousy diet. Weight. And more …
    2. Key Problem: Identifying the most beneficial concern to work on right now.
  2. Area: Customer Satisfaction
    1. Concerns: Losing customers. Unhappy customers. Low online ratings. And more …
    2. Key Problem: Identifying the one problem to solve that will give the most returns on investment in the area of customer satisfaction.
  3. Area: Getting into Medical School
    1. Concerns: Getting into medical school is hard to do. Most people get rejected.
    2. Key Problem: Identify the actions to take today that will provide the most value to getting into med school.

This next example illustrates how identifying the wrong problem can be harmful.

  1. Area: Start-up company.
    1. Narrative: A start-up had a great product that seemed destined to sell. They just received $10M in investment funding. However, they fail to recognize that their key problem was marketing: creating demand and then turning this into sales. Thus, they prioritized making their good product even better.
    2. Consequence: They burned through their investment and went out of business. The investors lost their money.

Rationale

Here are some of the reasons why is it worthwhile to be skilled at identifying the key problem.

  1. Focus. Hone in on the one things that will provide you with the most value and thereby to set aside all the other distractors.

  2. Value: Maximize rewards.

  3. Priority: You know what to be working on right now. You have a systematic way to prioritize.

  4. Misc: More efficient resource allocation, faster progress, and increased motivation.

How to Find the Key Problem

To find the key problem, apply the diamond logic from critical thinking. Here is a summary of the actions.

While the key problem is being identified, take the following actions:

  1. Generating Question(s). Ask one or more open-ended questions that will lead you to generate a list of current problems. Here are some examples of such questions.

    1. What things are we most concerned about?
    2. What things are we most excited about pursuing?
    3. What problems come to mind?

  2. Inventory. List and number problem that you might want to take one. The longer the list the better. Hard problems are great, as are easy problem.

  3. Focus. Select the problem or set of problems that would be worthwhile to address right now.

  4. Synthesis. Collapse your key problem(s) in a concise, clear, and accurate statement or statements.

  5. Measurement. Measure the quality of the key problem. It it is high enough, stop. Otherwise, repeat the previous actions in a day or week or so.

When

Always figure out the key problem to solve. This is especially true in group contexts.

Summary

The key problem is the one problem from the set of all problems that exist that provides the most value (net sum of rewards and drawbacks taken holistically) if it is solved next.

The rationale for identifying the key problem is that you get the most rewards with the fewest drawbacks by solving this problem as opposed to others you might solve. In addition, you get focus and clarity so you brain is not overloaded.

The way to find the key problem is to apply diamond logic.