👩🏻💼 Problem Definition > Problem Solving
👩🏻💼 Problem Definition > Problem Solving
Biz Ops leaders cure Problems, not symptoms
One day you are having a call with a colleague, and they mention an edge case to a policy and process that’s going on. You dive in, sweeping in like a hero to solve, THE PROBLEM. You spend precious time redesigning processes to make sure said edge case is taken care of. A few weeks later, an issue, related to said edge case pops its ugly head. And then you go again.
Such symptom curing is a waste of time. If you are a Biz Ops leader you owe it to your team to slow down to speed up. You owe it to your team to actually define the Problem.
Every single time a colleague comes to you with a “Problem”, remember what they are giving you is a symptom. I have been thinking about Problem Definition throughout my whole career. I have narrowed down a long list of questions, the so called Questions Checklist developed by the CIA. You can download the full list here. But if you are in a start up or scale up, the timing of solving the Problems is also of importance. So I will focus on a few key questions to always always always answer.
Why is it necessary to solve the Problem? - if you are in a start up, chances are there are a 1000 things that you could solve for. A process is broken, or unscalable; there are these 3 different channels to “optimise”; or there 10 different things impeding the smooth experience of the product onboarding process. Ask yourself, why are you solving the Problem now? Why is it necessary?
What are the boundaries of the Problem? - there is always a bigger picture than you think. Systems are comprised of many smaller systems. Customer Journeys are comprised of many smaller Journeys. What is the level of analysis and action that you can focus on to drive meaningful change?
What can we control, and what can we not control? - there will be aspects of the Problem (e.g. Market condition, macroeconomic climate) that you simply can’t control. Define what can you control and therefore worth spending time on, and what you should just leave off the table. Pick your battles.
As a Biz Ops leader, remember that you need slow down to speed up. Every other strategy will leave you coming back to the symptoms again and again.
To continue the conversation, connect with me here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignatova/