Framing the right problem

Every solution begins with a business describing what it thinks it needs. The work of a Solution Designer begins one layer beneath that description, in the difference between the solution a stakeholder has already imagined and the change their organization is actually trying to make.

This module builds the framing discipline that difference demands: separating symptoms from underlying causes, defining outcomes precise enough to design toward and measure, and setting the scope and context a design must respect to be adopted rather than merely delivered. You will follow one engagement end-to-end and make the framing decisions yourself as it unfolds.

Beginner

English

After completing this module, you should be able to:

Describe what a Solution Designer is accountable for, and distinguish it from what the business owns and what the Solution Builder leads.

Analyze a stakeholder's opening description of a problem to separate symptoms from the underlying condition a design can address.

Decompose a bundled business challenge into parts that can each be evaluated, sequenced, or set aside on their own merits.

Construct a measurable business outcome with its beneficiary, magnitude, time horizon, baseline, and measurement mechanism.

Reconcile competing stakeholder definitions of success into a single outcome the business can commit to and sponsor.

Evaluate candidate scope against an agreed outcome, and justify what belongs in a first release, what is deferred, and what is excluded.

Capture the operational, organizational, and technical context a design must respect, and state openly what remains unknown.

Available in the following mission:

Solution Designer Advanced v1

Topics

The role of the Solution Designer

5 mins

Discovering the real problem

10 mins

Defining and agreeing upon business outcomes

5 mins

Establishing scope and context

10 mins

Module Quiz

5 mins