UNIT V
RESEARCH, DESIGNING, IDEATING, & INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Identifying and Writing Problem Statements - Identifying Appropriate Research Methods -
Creating Personas - Solution Ideation - Creating User Stories - Creating Scenarios - Flow
Diagrams - Flow Mapping - Information Architecture
Identifying and Writing Problem Statements
What’s a Problem Statement?
Definition: A problem statement is a concise description of the problem that needs to be
solved.
A problem statement makes clear what needs to be done in discovery and what’s out of scope.
Problem statements are also great communication tools; well-written ones can be used to gain
buy-in from stakeholders on why it’s important to explore and solve the problem.
Here are some examples of problem statements.
1. Users of our newspaper app often export content from our app, rather than sharing
content through our app. This is a problem because target audiences are less likely to
know that the content came from our app, leading to lower conversion rates. This is also a
problem for app users, as exporting content is time-consuming and could lead to a
decrease in app usage.
2. Each year, many applicants call the contact center seeking an update on their application.
Applicants often spend a long time waiting to speak to an agent. Because contact-center
staff members lack access to case information, they are unable to answer queries from
applicants. This situation causes frustration for both applicants and customer-contact staff
and represents an avoidable cost to the department.
It's a good idea to write a problem statement as early as possible in your discovery, as it can help
set discovery goals and objectives. Many teams will compose their problem statement in
a discovery kick-off workshop.
How to Write a Problem Statement
A problem statement should include:
1. The background of a problem. Which organization or department has the problem and
what is the problem? Why has the problem arisen? Note that in some cases you may not
know the exact causes of the problem. This is what discoveries are for: to uncover root
causes.
, 2. The people affected by the problem. There could be multiple user groups affected by a
specific problem in different ways. In the problem statement, you should call out how the
problem affects users. In some cases, internal employees (particularly customer-support
staff) can be affected by a problem, as they often bear the brunt of poor user experiences
–- for example, by handling disgruntled customers.
3. The impact of the problem on the organization. If the problem is not fixed, what will
be the effect on the organization? Reputational damage? Paying unavoidable costs?
Losing out-of-market share? In some cases, you may want to quantify the impact in order
to convince your organization to fix the problem. Your discovery could involve working
out how much this problem costs the organization, and this information could end up in
your problem statement.
To gather the relevant facts for your problem statement, you can use a simple technique called
the 5 Ws, which involves answering the questions below. This activity can be included in a
discovery kick-off workshop with your team and stakeholders.
Who is affected by the problem?
What is the problem?
Where does this problem occur?
When does the problem occur?
Why does the problem occur? Why is the problem important?
It’s important that problem statements are written well to serve their purpose. A problem
statement should:
Not be a laundry list of unrelated problems. A discovery effort should have one
problem statement, and the problem statement should be focused on one problem. Of
course, a single problem could cause further problems, and those related problems can be
added to your problem statement. But listing many unrelated problems is a sign that
you’re tackling too much.
Not contain a solution. Leave solutions out of your problem statement. At the beginning
of discovery, there are too many unknowns, so the the best solution is not obvious. At the
end of your discovery, you’ll be in a good position to confidently put forward solution
ideas that address the problem and take into account what you’ve learned.
Be brief. Problem statements are effective when they’re concise. If you can condense
your problem statement down to a few sentences, others will quickly understand what
you focus on and why, and what’s out of scope. Spend some time to draft and redraft the
problem statement with your team.
Problem Statements Don’t Need to Be Negative
,Here’s an example of a problem statement that highlights an opportunity, rather than a problem
that needs to be fixed:
The process of purchasing a newly built home can take a long time and requires many
offline activities. This means sales often take a long time to close. There’s an opportunity
to make home buying quicker and easier, and thus improve customer-satisfaction ratings
and sales.
In an opportunity statement, we need to highlight the gap between where we are now (the present
state) and where we want to be in the future (the desired state). A good question to ask to
highlight this gap is: What do we want to achieve?
How to Use Problem Statements
Problem statement can be used as the starting point for structuring your discovery work. For
example, if the problem statement was about improving the home-buying process, the goal for
the discovery should be to learn about opportunities to make home buying quicker and easier.
Once we have a discovery goal, it becomes easier to know what unknowns need research. For
example, in this case, we probably want to know things like:
Which activities do homebuyers perceive as difficult or time-consuming?
Which activities or use cases can slow down the home-buying process and why?
What does the end-to-end journey currently look like?
A problem statement is a clear description of the user's needs to be addressed.
The problem statement tells the team what user problem to focus on and gives everyone a clear
goal. A strong problem statement is focused on people. It should be broad enough to allow
some creative freedom, but narrow enough that it can actually be solved by a design
solution. Problem statements can be formulated with a simple formula.
Start with the name of the user
Include a brief description of the user's characteristics. Clearly describe the user's need and
explain why the user has that need; in other words, provide insight into who the user is.
Problem statements help us set goals. An effective problem statement tells you what the user
really needs. By defining the goal clearly and concisely, it gets all members of the design team
involved and focused on the same thing.
Problem statements help us understand constraints. We want to know what's keeping users
from getting their needs met.
Problem statements help us define what needs to be done. When we finally solve the
problem, what will we have to show for it? It is helpful to know what our solution will produce.
Problem statements help us set benchmarks for success. How will we know that we are
successful?
, The 5 Ws and H: who, what, when, where, why, and how
The most commonly used framework for creating problem representations is the 5-Ws-and-Hs
framework. After defining the user's pain points, you can answer the who, what, when, where,
why, and how to solve the user's problem.
Who is affected by the problem? Knowing your users and their background is key to developing
successful solutions for them.
What are the problems you are trying to solve? If you identify a user's pain points early on, you
can answer the rest of the questions and clarify the context of the pain points.
When does the problem occur? Maybe it occurs right after the end of a long and tedious process,
or it's something that happens every day. If you know when the problem occurs, you can better
empathize with the user's feelings.
Where is the user when they use the product? The user's physical context is important to your
design.
Why is the problem important? If you know how the problem affects the user's experience and
life, you can better assess the potential consequences.
How do users achieve their goals by using the product? Understanding how users achieve their
goals will help you map the path they take through your product.
To design a solution that meets your users' needs, you need to understand the problem from
their perspective. Thinking about the 5 Ws and the How forces you to describe the user persona
and map out the entire context of the problem from the user's perspective.
10 Examples of UX Problems
1. Find your way around a new city.
2. Fill small amounts of “bored” time in your day with something interesting.
3. Split a check at a restaurant.
4. Split a check at a restaurant between vegetarians and meat-eaters.
5. Split a check at a restaurant between drinkers and nondrinkers.
6. Organize your wardrobe.
7. Keep track of messages across all platforms (whatsapp, wechat, email etc) that need to be
responded to or viewed later.
8. Know where, what, and how to recycle.
9. Donate/recycle old goods and clothes efficiently.
10. Find other people to enjoy a hobby with.
RESEARCH, DESIGNING, IDEATING, & INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Identifying and Writing Problem Statements - Identifying Appropriate Research Methods -
Creating Personas - Solution Ideation - Creating User Stories - Creating Scenarios - Flow
Diagrams - Flow Mapping - Information Architecture
Identifying and Writing Problem Statements
What’s a Problem Statement?
Definition: A problem statement is a concise description of the problem that needs to be
solved.
A problem statement makes clear what needs to be done in discovery and what’s out of scope.
Problem statements are also great communication tools; well-written ones can be used to gain
buy-in from stakeholders on why it’s important to explore and solve the problem.
Here are some examples of problem statements.
1. Users of our newspaper app often export content from our app, rather than sharing
content through our app. This is a problem because target audiences are less likely to
know that the content came from our app, leading to lower conversion rates. This is also a
problem for app users, as exporting content is time-consuming and could lead to a
decrease in app usage.
2. Each year, many applicants call the contact center seeking an update on their application.
Applicants often spend a long time waiting to speak to an agent. Because contact-center
staff members lack access to case information, they are unable to answer queries from
applicants. This situation causes frustration for both applicants and customer-contact staff
and represents an avoidable cost to the department.
It's a good idea to write a problem statement as early as possible in your discovery, as it can help
set discovery goals and objectives. Many teams will compose their problem statement in
a discovery kick-off workshop.
How to Write a Problem Statement
A problem statement should include:
1. The background of a problem. Which organization or department has the problem and
what is the problem? Why has the problem arisen? Note that in some cases you may not
know the exact causes of the problem. This is what discoveries are for: to uncover root
causes.
, 2. The people affected by the problem. There could be multiple user groups affected by a
specific problem in different ways. In the problem statement, you should call out how the
problem affects users. In some cases, internal employees (particularly customer-support
staff) can be affected by a problem, as they often bear the brunt of poor user experiences
–- for example, by handling disgruntled customers.
3. The impact of the problem on the organization. If the problem is not fixed, what will
be the effect on the organization? Reputational damage? Paying unavoidable costs?
Losing out-of-market share? In some cases, you may want to quantify the impact in order
to convince your organization to fix the problem. Your discovery could involve working
out how much this problem costs the organization, and this information could end up in
your problem statement.
To gather the relevant facts for your problem statement, you can use a simple technique called
the 5 Ws, which involves answering the questions below. This activity can be included in a
discovery kick-off workshop with your team and stakeholders.
Who is affected by the problem?
What is the problem?
Where does this problem occur?
When does the problem occur?
Why does the problem occur? Why is the problem important?
It’s important that problem statements are written well to serve their purpose. A problem
statement should:
Not be a laundry list of unrelated problems. A discovery effort should have one
problem statement, and the problem statement should be focused on one problem. Of
course, a single problem could cause further problems, and those related problems can be
added to your problem statement. But listing many unrelated problems is a sign that
you’re tackling too much.
Not contain a solution. Leave solutions out of your problem statement. At the beginning
of discovery, there are too many unknowns, so the the best solution is not obvious. At the
end of your discovery, you’ll be in a good position to confidently put forward solution
ideas that address the problem and take into account what you’ve learned.
Be brief. Problem statements are effective when they’re concise. If you can condense
your problem statement down to a few sentences, others will quickly understand what
you focus on and why, and what’s out of scope. Spend some time to draft and redraft the
problem statement with your team.
Problem Statements Don’t Need to Be Negative
,Here’s an example of a problem statement that highlights an opportunity, rather than a problem
that needs to be fixed:
The process of purchasing a newly built home can take a long time and requires many
offline activities. This means sales often take a long time to close. There’s an opportunity
to make home buying quicker and easier, and thus improve customer-satisfaction ratings
and sales.
In an opportunity statement, we need to highlight the gap between where we are now (the present
state) and where we want to be in the future (the desired state). A good question to ask to
highlight this gap is: What do we want to achieve?
How to Use Problem Statements
Problem statement can be used as the starting point for structuring your discovery work. For
example, if the problem statement was about improving the home-buying process, the goal for
the discovery should be to learn about opportunities to make home buying quicker and easier.
Once we have a discovery goal, it becomes easier to know what unknowns need research. For
example, in this case, we probably want to know things like:
Which activities do homebuyers perceive as difficult or time-consuming?
Which activities or use cases can slow down the home-buying process and why?
What does the end-to-end journey currently look like?
A problem statement is a clear description of the user's needs to be addressed.
The problem statement tells the team what user problem to focus on and gives everyone a clear
goal. A strong problem statement is focused on people. It should be broad enough to allow
some creative freedom, but narrow enough that it can actually be solved by a design
solution. Problem statements can be formulated with a simple formula.
Start with the name of the user
Include a brief description of the user's characteristics. Clearly describe the user's need and
explain why the user has that need; in other words, provide insight into who the user is.
Problem statements help us set goals. An effective problem statement tells you what the user
really needs. By defining the goal clearly and concisely, it gets all members of the design team
involved and focused on the same thing.
Problem statements help us understand constraints. We want to know what's keeping users
from getting their needs met.
Problem statements help us define what needs to be done. When we finally solve the
problem, what will we have to show for it? It is helpful to know what our solution will produce.
Problem statements help us set benchmarks for success. How will we know that we are
successful?
, The 5 Ws and H: who, what, when, where, why, and how
The most commonly used framework for creating problem representations is the 5-Ws-and-Hs
framework. After defining the user's pain points, you can answer the who, what, when, where,
why, and how to solve the user's problem.
Who is affected by the problem? Knowing your users and their background is key to developing
successful solutions for them.
What are the problems you are trying to solve? If you identify a user's pain points early on, you
can answer the rest of the questions and clarify the context of the pain points.
When does the problem occur? Maybe it occurs right after the end of a long and tedious process,
or it's something that happens every day. If you know when the problem occurs, you can better
empathize with the user's feelings.
Where is the user when they use the product? The user's physical context is important to your
design.
Why is the problem important? If you know how the problem affects the user's experience and
life, you can better assess the potential consequences.
How do users achieve their goals by using the product? Understanding how users achieve their
goals will help you map the path they take through your product.
To design a solution that meets your users' needs, you need to understand the problem from
their perspective. Thinking about the 5 Ws and the How forces you to describe the user persona
and map out the entire context of the problem from the user's perspective.
10 Examples of UX Problems
1. Find your way around a new city.
2. Fill small amounts of “bored” time in your day with something interesting.
3. Split a check at a restaurant.
4. Split a check at a restaurant between vegetarians and meat-eaters.
5. Split a check at a restaurant between drinkers and nondrinkers.
6. Organize your wardrobe.
7. Keep track of messages across all platforms (whatsapp, wechat, email etc) that need to be
responded to or viewed later.
8. Know where, what, and how to recycle.
9. Donate/recycle old goods and clothes efficiently.
10. Find other people to enjoy a hobby with.
