As discussed previously, organizations resist change. That includes buying, implementing, and adapting to your product or service. People are busy, budgets are constrained, and new solutions introduce risk. To drive adoption, you must identify a problem that is sufficiently painful, visible, and economically meaningful.<\/p>\n
At this stage, do not anchor on a solution<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Your technical background, intellectual property (IP), or capabilities may bound the search space, but they should not drive it.<\/p>\n The objective is to identify problems worth solving<\/strong>, not solutions looking for justification.<\/p>\n The task is to define ~10\u201315 discrete problem statements<\/strong>, each captured in 2\u20133 sentences.<\/p>\n Constraints:<\/p>\n Each problem should be concise, specific, and testable.<\/p>\n For each problem, perform an initial screen across four dimensions:<\/p>\n Be precise. Avoid generic answers.<\/p>\n Example:<\/p>\n If you cannot identify the buyer, you do not have a viable opportunity.<\/p>\n This is not full diligence\u2014just a first-pass feasibility filter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n You will need sustained engagement with customers\u2014this is not optional.<\/p>\n Each problem should be captured in a simple 1-page format:<\/p>\n If it cannot fit on one page, it is not ready.<\/p>\n \u00a0Example: The problem with Airport Marshaling Batons\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Problem:<\/strong><\/em> Who feels the pain:<\/strong><\/em> Who pays:<\/strong><\/em> Economic impact (directional):<\/strong><\/em> Problem identification should be done individually, then reviewed as a team. Guidelines:<\/p>\n A simple post-up \/ clustering approach<\/strong><\/a> works well to compare and refine ideas quickly.<\/p>\n The objective is not to solve the problem\u2014it is to down-select where to focus<\/strong>. These become the inputs to the next phase: customer validation and problem refinement<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In this process, the Product Manager (PM: Product Manager) is central to execution.<\/p>\n They are responsible for:<\/p>\n This role requires:<\/p>\n Weak product management will kill otherwise strong opportunities.<\/p>\n With a small set of prioritized problems, the next step is direct customer engagement<\/a> to validate, refine, and quantify the opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As discussed previously, organizations resist change. That includes buying, implementing, and adapting to your product or service. People are busy, budgets are constrained, and new solutions introduce risk. To drive adoption, you must identify a problem that is sufficiently painful, visible, and economically meaningful. \u201cNice … Continue readingProblem Selection \u2014 Finding Opportunities That Matter<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,18,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-commercialization","category-product-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":754,"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions\/754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justinmcclellan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nGenerate Multiple Problem Hypotheses<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
\nPressure-Test Each Problem<\/strong><\/h3>\n
1. Economic Magnitude<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\n
2. Specific Customer & Buyer<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\n
\n
3. Feasibility & Access<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\n
4. Strategic & Personal Alignment<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\n
\nPackage Each Problem (1-Pager Standard)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\nAirport ground crew batons rely on batteries that typically last only 7\u201310 days, requiring frequent replacement and spare inventory to maintain operations.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\nGround crews and maintenance staff. Crews lose time retrieving replacements, and maintenance teams spend time on low-value battery swaps instead of higher-priority work.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nTerminal managers and regional operations leaders responsible for equipment uptime and maintenance budgets.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nMaterial spend (batteries), labor for replacement, and excess inventory combine into a meaningful recurring cost.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nRun a Structured Evaluation Session<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nProcess:<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\n
\nOutput of the Session<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nOutputs:<\/p>\n\n
\nRole of the Product Manager (Critical Function)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\nTransition<\/strong><\/h3>\n