The problem space is everything about what people are struggling with: what they do today, what it costs them, what they have already tried. The solution space is everything about what you might build in response.

Somebody struggling to keep track of a child's day and to share photos of it is the problem space. A shared feed with a photo roll in it is the solution space. Those are two different conversations, and you want to have them in that order.

Why this is so hard

One thing that was really hard for me coming from engineering is that when you are in engineering you are in the solution space, and when you are doing product you have to remain in the problem space. It is very hard.

When someone tells you they have a problem, you instantly have an idea of how to fix it. That is the reason you are an engineer. It is also the reason this is difficult, and it is not a flaw in you.

It is not only engineers. Anyone with an idea they love is already in the solution space, because the idea is a solution. The work is going backwards from it to the problem it assumes.

The cost of solutioning early

It is really important to not solution until you have heard all of the problems.

Here is the specific thing you lose. Your solution to problem A might solve problem B too, and you never realise it, because you had not heard problem B yet. You committed to a fix before you had the full list, so you built the narrow version of something that could have been bigger.

There are several solutions to every problem. Decide the solution first and you never find out about the better one.

Problems are not features

Some people think problems and features are interchangeable terms. They are not.

You could have three problems solved by the same feature. You could have one problem that needs multiple features to solve it. If your list is a list of features, you do not yet know how many problems you have, and you cannot tell which ones matter.

What people tell you is not always the problem

What users tell you are their problems are not necessarily their problems.

So listen for the actual problem rather than the one they hand you. The best way to do that is to talk to them about how they do things and what they do, rather than what they want.

Just listen to their story. When you listen to their story you start hearing the problems. You hear them say, it is such a pain when the pool gets changed and you have to reschedule everything. That is a problem. But if you ask them what they need, they are not going to say, I need a scheduling tool.

How to tell which space you are in

Ask what the sentence is about. If it is about a person and their life, you are in the problem space. If it is about your app and its screens, you are in the solution space.

• "Parents and nannies cannot work out how much is owed at the end of the week" is the problem space.
• "A shared timesheet with a weekly total" is the solution space.

Both are needed. The order is what is at stake.

When you do move to the solution

You move when you have heard enough that a new interview stops surprising you, and you can say which problem is the make or break one.

If you have identified one problem that is really make or break for a group you want to serve, you can launch with only that problem solved and build from there. That is a decision you can only make from the problem space, because it depends on knowing what else was on the list.

Keep reading

App Idea vs. App Strategy: What's the Difference and Why It Matters

How Do I Validate an App Idea Without Building It?

How to Talk to Users When You're a Developer and Find It Deeply Uncomfortable

Learn this with me

Problem space versus solution space is the first thing taught in class 1 of From Passion to Product, my free six-week live course, and then the whole course is built to hold that line. You do not brainstorm a single solution until class 6, five classes and four weeks of research later.

Most people cannot hold that line on their own, which is most of what a live cohort is for.

Join the waitlist for the next free cohort, or get the App Strategy Workbook and hold the line yourself.