Questions
How do I know what problem I am actually solving?
Separate the requested solution from the outcome someone is trying to achieve. A request tells you what a person thinks they need. The objective tells you where they are actually trying to go.
Why people ask this
People often arrive asking for a dashboard, chatbot, report, process, or automation. Building the request can feel efficient even when nobody has aligned on the real destination.
My answer
Chelsie uses Define to remove ambiguity before anyone invests effort solving the problem.
The work is to understand what someone actually wants, why they want it, what problem they are trying to solve, what success means, and what done looks like.
Define is complete when the people involved can explain the problem, goal, and desired outcome in their own words and still arrive at the same understanding. Agreement is not enough. Shared understanding is.
Real example
A requested tool is not yet a defined problem
Someone may ask for an AI chatbot, another report, or more automation. Those are proposed solutions. Before building, ask what the request is supposed to make possible and how everyone will recognize success.
Common mistake
Solving the request instead of the need.
If your definition is still the name of a tool or feature, you probably have not reached the objective yet.
Try this
Write one sentence for the requested solution and a different sentence for the desired outcome. If they are identical, keep asking what the request is meant to accomplish.