Importance of Problem Obsession in Engineering

Problemeering: Engineering the Problem Before the Solution What is it? Problemeering (problem + engineering) is the art and science of identifying, defining, and framing problems so they can be solved more creatively and efficiently. Why it matters Many product launches, business strategies, and even personal projects flop because they target the wrong problem or never define one at all. Problemeering helps you: • Understand the real issue • Avoid premature “band‑aid” fixes • Uncover root causes and hidden opportunities • Frame challenges in a way that sparks breakthrough ideas Key steps Observe & Empathize – Listen to users and spot pain points. Define – State the core problem in one crisp sentence. Reframe – Challenge every assumption: “Is this really the problem?” Explore Context – Map the ecosystem, constraints, and stakeholders. Ask “How might we…?” – Turn the problem frame into innovation prompts. Quick example Late‑delivery complaints in a food‑delivery app. Instead of jumping straight to route optimization, a problemeering mindset asks: • Are customer expectations realistic? • Does the UI overpromise delivery times? • Are restaurants accepting orders they can’t fulfill? Addressing these upstream issues often fixes “late deliveries” more effectively than tweaking maps alone. Origin Not yet in the dictionary it just reminds us: engineer the problem first, then engineer the solution.

Engineers have an interesting relationship with impossible problems. We complain about them and lose sleep over them, yet when someone offers us an easier project, we find a reason to say no. For lack of a better term, I have started calling it the "Engineer's curse." I have always been drawn to problems without obvious answers. A client needs something by a date that seems unreasonable, or the budget does not quite match the ambition. Or it could be that the people involved do not yet agree on the path forward (which is typical for engineering teams). These situations should feel like burdens, and sometimes they do. But there is also something underneath the frustration that feels like purpose, a quiet thirst to figure out what nobody else has figured out yet. And over the years, I have learned to recognize this same quality in others as well. It looks like restlessness when things are too predictable, an inability to let go of a problem, even when walking away would be the sensible choice. The engineer who keeps turning something over in their mind during dinner is not doing it because they have to; they simply cannot help it. The leader who volunteers for the difficult conversation knows that leaving it unresolved could do greater damage. I used to think this was a flaw, this inability to leave well enough alone. Now I see it differently. The curiosity that pulls you toward the hardest problems is the same curiosity that eventually pushes you to solve them. If you have ever looked at an impossible situation and felt something closer to excitement than dread, you probably know exactly what I mean. And if you lead engineers, learn to spot this quality early. It is one of the most valuable traits a person can bring to your organization.

🎬 Episode 4: Helping Teams Fall in Love With the Problem Because solving the right problem beats building the perfect solution. Scrum Masters and Coaches — let’s talk truth: 🚫 Too many teams get stuck chasing “done.” ✅ But the best ones chase understanding. You want innovation? You want real impact? Then don’t rush to the solution. Teach your teams to sit with the problem. Dissect it. Empathize with it. Fall in love with it. ____________________________________________ 💔 The Problem with Solution Obsession: Teams often jump from idea → ticket → delivery …but skip the most important step: Why does this matter? That’s how you end up with well-built features that no one uses. ___________________________________________ 💡 Shift the Focus: Problem First, Always As a coach, you can guide this shift by: 1️⃣ Creating Space for Discovery → Before story refinement, ask: What’s the actual pain point here? Have we heard this from real users? 2️⃣ Using Problem Statements, Not Just User Stories → Encourage teams to craft “How might we…” questions to explore the problem fully. 3️⃣ Bringing Customers Into the Room → Literal or metaphorical. Use feedback, data, recordings — anything that keeps the user real. 4️⃣ Celebrating Curiosity → Praise questions like: “Do we need to solve this now?” “What if we didn’t build anything?” Curiosity drives clarity. 5️⃣ Zooming Out, Regularly → Revisit product goals. Are we solving isolated issues… or moving toward a larger outcome? _________________________________________________ 🔆 The Power of Problem-Centric Coaching: ✅ Teams build smarter. ✅ POs prioritize sharper. ✅ Products grow with purpose. And you? You become the coach of clarity — the one who unlocks thinking before building. ______________________________________________________ 📌 Are your teams solving problems… or just delivering solutions? 💬 Share one way you help teams explore the why before the what 👇 👥 Tag someone who leads with curiosity. #AgileCoach #ScrumMaster #ProblemSolving #ProductMindset #AgileLeadership #FallInLoveWithTheProblem #DesignThinking #LeadingTheProductMindset #Episode4 #LinkedInSeries

The only question I ask when my team shows me something new: "What problem is this solving?" It stops most conversations dead in their tracks. Why? Because most of the time, they don't actually know. We've become solution-obsessed: → Building things that look impressive → Creating systems that sound advanced → Implementing tools that feel innovative But without a clear problem, solutions are just distractions. What happens when you ask this question: → Vanity projects die immediately → Real priorities become clear → Resources flow to actual bottlenecks → Team alignment happens naturally The best teams don't chase solutions. They obsess over problems. Because when you truly understand the problem: → The right solution becomes obvious → Implementation becomes focused → Results become measurable → Impact becomes inevitable Stop asking "What can we build?" Start asking "What problem are we solving?"

When it comes to problem-solving, rushing to find quick solutions overshadows the importance of deeply understanding the issue at hand. This can lead to superficial fixes that fail to address the root cause, resulting in recurring issues and stunted innovation. The challenge lies in shifting focus from a solution-first mentality to a problem-centered approach. Without a love for the messiness of process, organizations miss out on the depth of insight and innovation that comes from truly understanding an issue. Cultivating a passion for challenges involves embracing a mindset that sees challenges as opportunities for: ↳ Growth  ↳ Learning ↳ Innovation. This means slowing down, asking better and deeper questions, and encouraging a culture that values curiosity and exploration over immediate resolution. By creating an environment that sees the beauty and opportunity in challenges, your organization can unlock a richer, more innovative path to success. #ProblemSolving #Challenges #Curiosity #Solutions 📸 Photo Credit: Sahar Coston-Hardy

Everyone thinks it is the best engineers and entrepreneurs who win. The ones with the highest IQ. The most prestigious degrees. The cleanest pedigree... They don't. The ones who win are relentless problem solvers. And that changes everything about how we train, how we build, and how we lead. Here's what I've observed across medicine, research, and entrepreneurship: The smartest person in the room often falls in love with the elegance of a problem. The winner falls in love with solving it. That distinction is not subtle. It is everything. 42% of startups fail because they built something that didn't solve a real problem for anyone. Not because the founders lacked intelligence. Because they optimized for the wrong thing. Engineering and entrepreneurship are, at their core, the same discipline. You identify friction. You build a bridge across it. You test. You fail. You adjust. You go again. The surgeon who redesigns a failing protocol is doing the same work as the founder who rebuilds a broken system. The medium is different. The mindset is identical. And that mindset is not taught in a classroom. It is forged in the moment where the comfortable answer stops working and you have to find a better one. So if you want to build anything worth building, here are 5 principles that matter more than brilliance:👇🏼 Get obsessed with the problem, not your solution Treat every failure as a data point, not a verdict Stay in the room longer than everyone else Ask "what is actually broken here?" before proposing anything. Solve for the patient, the customer, the human... NOT the theory. The most dangerous person in any room is not the most talented. It's the one who refuses to walk away from an unsolved problem. Medicine trained me to think this way. Entrepreneurship tested whether I actually believed it. Both are still teaching me. So here's my question for you: Are you solving the problem in front of you, or the one you wish were in front of you? PS. I write a publication about disrupting the norm in medical research, orthopedic surgery and entrepreneurship. 🔥 Join me here: 👉 https://lnkd.in/gTFaKaTt ♻️ Repost to help your network grow 🔔 Follow Dr. Michael Meneghini for more 📺 Video credit: reelspark.1

𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺. That mindset has guided every AI project I’ve led. In AI and data science, it’s easy to get mesmerized by the model — the architecture, precision, and innovation. But when we fixate on the 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, we risk missing the real goal: solving the 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 problem. This principle sits at the heart of design thinking and AI innovation frameworks from Google to IDEO — because lasting impact starts with problem empathy, not technology enthusiasm. When you fall in love with the problem, you: ✅ Understand the real pain points and context ✅ Build empathy for users and stakeholders ✅ Stay adaptable as new data changes the path ✅ Deliver outcomes that truly matter Every AI breakthrough I’ve seen came from teams obsessed with asking 𝘸𝘩𝘺, not just 𝘩𝘰𝘸. 💡 AI success isn’t about the smartest algorithm — it’s about relentless curiosity and problem ownership. 👉 What’s a problem your team is “in love with” right now? #ArtificialIntelligence #DataScience #Leadership #DesignThinking #AIMindset #MachineLearning #DigitalTransformation #AIInnovation #DataLeadership #ProblemSolving #InnovationCulture

To Young Engineers: Don’t Chase Promotions. Chase Learning. When I look back at my early years in engineering, I realize that the most valuable lessons didn’t come from titles or designations; they came from problems I dared to take on. It’s natural for young engineers to be eager for promotions or recognition. But in my experience, growth doesn’t come from chasing the next title. It comes from immersing yourself in challenges that test your skills, stretch your thinking, and push you beyond your comfort zone. Every time you take on a tough challenge, fixing a design flaw, improving efficiency, or finding a smarter way to do something, you are sharpening your skills and building confidence. Every complex problem you solve adds to your capability, confidence, and credibility. Those problem-solving experiences shape you far more than any designation on your visiting card ever will. And eventually, promotions follow as a byproduct of the value you create. So my message to young engineers is "Don’t chase the ladder, Chase the learning." Meaning - Focus on solving meaningful problems, and your career will build itself on a stronger foundation than any title can offer. Remember, the fastest way to grow, both professionally and personally, is to immerse yourself in solving problems others might shy away from. #Promotion #Learning #ProblemSolving #MyPOV #Growth #RajendraGore #Engineers

One piece of advice that truly changed the way I approach entrepreneurship came from a mentor early on in my career: "Fall in love with the problem, not the solution." As entrepreneurs, we’re often driven by the excitement of our ideas, convinced that our solution is revolutionary. But what my mentor made me realise is that the true value lies in deeply understanding the problem you're solving. The more intimately you know the pain points and challenges your customers face, the better equipped you are to offer a solution that actually makes a difference. This advice shifted my mindset from product obsession to problem obsession. It led me to listen to customers actively, adapt when needed, and continuously innovate without being attached to a specific idea. It’s the reason why I believe we’ve been able to build successful, long-lasting solutions at Enterprise Monkey. I remind myself of this advice every day. If you're building something meaningful, make sure you're solving a problem that really matters to people. Because that's what entrepreneurship is all about – making an impact by solving the right problems. #entrepreneurship #businessadvice #leadershiptips #motivationmonday #startupmindset #entrepreneurlife #problemsolving #innovativethinking #leadershiplessons #successmindset #entrepreneurjourney

One of the biggest misconceptions that I’ve seen with founders on their pitches is around focusing on the problem vs. the solution. Especially with the advent of GenAI, I started to notice that 8/10 pitches mentioned a lot more about the solution than the problem. I would hear from founders how AI would be used to do these cool things, but there was very little talk about how it was solving the actual problem in depth - it became a bad habit. Side note: AI fatigue is real. The best pitches I’ve seen are the ones that can strike a good balance between both, but they’re also the ones that have a higher probability of long-term success. Let’s talk about a few reasons why this is so important… Solutions (i.e. the product) change at a faster rate than the problem - you’re building, testing, and iterating much more quickly. This is because of customer feedback and new insights along your product journey. It’s not unnatural to pivot multiple times. The *problem* however is much more rigid, and less likely to change (but there are exceptions!) Ideally, the natural path to take is to identify a core problem, and then find a solution around it. What you don’t want to do is the reverse. I’ve seen examples of founders trying to mold a problem to fit their solution. You can end up building something irrelevant consuming huge amounts of time, money, and resources into solving a particular problem that should have never existed. But how do you know when a problem needs fixing? That’s when it becomes unique to the founder. Those who are obsessed with the problem are usually the ones who can go the furthest. The problem needs to bother you A LOT. It’s when obsession takes over. It needs to get under your skin and create discomfort for you to the point where you can’t get it off your mind. The great thing about this approach is that this type of relentlessness will take you down a rabbit hole you actually want to go down. If the problem matters to you enough, eventually you become fully immersed and relentless in understanding *why* the problem exists and matters to you. It means that the best problems to solve are also the ones worth solving but hidden in plain sight. The plus side is that those who stay problem-focused unlock insights that their competitors miss. But problems that could be solved don’t exist in a vacuum - it needs a solution. So going back to the pitches: As mentioned previously, the most memorable pitches are the ones that can do the balancing act between problem and solution, but they also tell a great story about the problem and why it needs addressing. They then use the problem as a segue into their solution. But in many cases, the solution itself can convey a ‘set-in-stone’ perspective of what the company is (or will be) doing. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth... Read the full piece: link in comments :)