If you’ve ever worked with teams trying to solve complex problems, at some point in your career seen them jump too quickly into solutions, seen decisions being made only on assumptions (that ended up being wrong), or not being clear what problem they were trying to solve in the first place In this session at UX India 2021, we dive on Problem Framing and Reframing, with useful tips to: - Ensure you’re solving the right problems. - Raise the awareness around decision biases that prevent us from digging deeper. - Look outside the frame before considering the details. - Use lateral thinking to disrupt stagnant thought sequences. - Challenge you to reframe problems

1. Problem Framing for
Strategic Design
#problemframing
UX India 2021

2. A brilliant solution to the
wrong problem can be worse
than no solution at all: solve
the correct problem.
Norman, D. A. (2013). The design of everyday things. London, England: MIT Press.
#problemframing

3. The Problem with
Problem Statements
#problemframing

4. You have 2 minutes to
design a vase
#problemframing
Rettig, M., (2010) “Design a Vase”, in "An evening of conversation about Design, Interaction, Work and Life“,
May 25th, 2010, IxDA Gathering, 399, Pu Dian Road, Pudong New District, Shanghai, 200122, P.R. China

5. You have 2 minutes to
design a vase
design a better way for young
families to enjoy flowers in
their home
#problemframing
Rettig, M., (2010) “Design a Vase”, in "An evening of conversation about Design, Interaction, Work and Life“,
May 25th, 2010, IxDA Gathering, 399, Pu Dian Road, Pudong New District, Shanghai, 200122, P.R. China

6. Solving the right problem
In my experience, the biggest disconnect between the work
designers need to do and the mindset of of the rest of the
team is usually about how quickly we tend to jump to
solutions instead of contemplate and explore the problem
space a little longer.
#problemframing

8. What is the problem we are
trying to solve… really?
And for whom?
#problemframing

9. Beware of your
Biases
#problemframing

10. #letstalkdesignstrategy
§ The Framing Trap occurs when we misstate a
problem, undermining the entire decision-making
process
§ The Overconfidence Trap makes us
overestimate the accuracy of our forecasts
§ The Prudence Trap leads us to be overcautious
when we make estimates about uncertain events.
§ The Recallability Trap prompts us to give undue
weight to recent, dramatic events
§ The Anchoring Trap lead us to give
disproportionate weight to the first information
we receive
§ The Status-quo Trap biases us towards
maitaining the current situation – even when
better alternatives exist
§ The Sunk-Cost Trap inclines us to make
choices in the way that justifies past choices,
even when these were mistakes
§ The Confirming-Evidence Trap leads us to
seek out information supporting an existing
predilection and to discount opposing
information
Hammond, John S., Ralph L. Keeney, and Howard Raiffa. "The Hidden Traps in Decision Making." Harvard Business Review 76, no. 5 (September–October 1998): 47–+.
Decision Bias

11. Problem Framing
and the Need of
Facilitation
#problemframing

12. When teams share an
understanding, everyone
knows what they’re working
on, why it’s important, and
what the outcome will look
like.
Govella, A. (2019). Collaborative Product Design: Help any team build a better experience. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media.
#problemframing

13. Be Open to Challenge the
Problem, Assumptions, or
Goals
Before applying any specific reframing strategies, it’s a good practice
to start with a review of the problem statement. Here are some
questions that can help you do that
#problemframing
§ Is the statement true?
§ Are there simple self-imposed
limitations?
§ Is a solution baked into the
problem framing?
§ Is the problem clear?
§ With whom is the problem
located?
§ Are there strong emotions?
§ Are there false trade-offs?
Wedell-Wedellsborg, T. (2020). What’s your problem?: To solve your toughest problems, change the problems you solve. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

14. Problem Framing
and Psychological
Safety
#problemframing

15. Conflict arises in every team, but
psychological safety makes it
possible to channel that energy
into productive interaction, that is,
constructive disagreement, and
an open exchange of ideas, and
learning from different points of
view.
Edmondson, A. C. (2018). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. Nashville, TN: John Wiley & Sons.
#problemframing

16. From Outputs to Outcomes
#problemframing

17. Using outcomes creates focus
and alignment. It eliminates
needless work. And it puts the
customer at the center of
everything you do
Seiden, J. (2019). Outcomes Over Output: Why customer behavior is the key metric for business success. Independently published (April 8, 2019).
#problemframing

19. From Outputs to Outcomes
You can help the team start thinking in terms of outcomes
by asking three simple questions:
§ What are the user and customer behaviors that drive
business results? If the team gets stuck on trying to
answer that question, there is a good chance that working
on alignment diagrams will help.
§ How do we get people to do more of these things?
§ How do we know we’re right? The easiest (and the
hardest) way to answer that question is to design and
conduct tests.
#problemframing
Seiden, J. (2019). Outcomes Over Output: Why customer behavior is the key metric for business success. Independently published (April 8, 2019).

20. Problem Framing
and Reframing
#problemframing

21. Wedell-Wedellsborg, T. (2020). What’s your problem?: To solve your toughest problems, change the problems you solve. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

22. Reframing Problems
There are five nested strategies can help you find these
alternative framing of the problem:
#problemframing
§ Look in the mirror. What is my/our role in
creating this problem? Scale the problem
down to your level. Get an outside view of
yourself.
§ Take their perspective. You will get people
wrong unless you invest genuine effort in
trying to understand them. List the parties
and listen to them. Escape your own
emotions. Look for reasonable explanations.
§ Look outside the frame. Are there
elements we are not considering? Is there
anything outside the frame that we are not
currently paying attention?
§ Rethink the goal. Is there a better goal to
pursue?
§ Examine bright spots. Have we already
solved the problem at least once? Are
there positive outliers in the group? Who
else deals with this type of problem? Can
we broadcast the problem widely?
Wedell-Wedellsborg, T. (2020). What’s your problem?: To solve your toughest problems, change the problems you solve. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

23. Thank you!
If you enjoyed this discussion, don’t forget to
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#problemframing
Learn more about
Problem Framing!

24. Created by Itamar Medeiros www.designative.info
@designative

25. Created by Itamar Medeiros www.designative.info
@designative

26. Created by Itamar Medeiros www.designative.info
@designative