Problem Framing

What is problem framing?

Problem framing is a technique used in Product Management to define and understand a problem before jumping into solutions. It ensures you and the team are solving the right problem by identifying root causes, multiple perspectives, relevant constraints, and desired outcomes. It’s the structured thinking that precedes writing a problem statement.

In Product Management, this approach is particularly important because Product Teams are constantly flooded with requests, feedback, and ideas. Without a disciplined way to assess what truly matters, it’s easy to chase symptoms or pet projects. 

Problem framing helps Product Teams resist the urge to start building right away and instead take a step back to ask: What exactly are we solving for? Who is affected? Why does this matter now?

It brings clarity to ambiguous situations, prevents misalignment between teams, and ensures that resources are being directed toward initiatives with the most potential impact. 

Think of problem framing as the diagnostic phase in medicine – before prescribing treatment, you need an accurate diagnosis. In Product Management, that diagnosis is the result of thoughtful, collaborative problem framing.

How does problem framing help?

Ever spent weeks building a feature only to realize it didn’t solve anything? That’s what problem framing is designed to prevent.

By slowing down to explore the problem space, you and the team align on what truly needs solving. Problem framing clarifies context, removes assumptions, and provides a shared understanding of the issue. This leads to better decisions, clearer priorities, and solutions that actually matter to customers. 

Problem framing is a superpower for outcome-driven Product Management.

When should you use the problem framing method?

As a Product Team, you should use problem framing anytime you’re facing a complex, unclear, or high-impact challenge. It’s especially useful:

• Before starting discovery or ideation
• When prioritizing roadmap items
• When you disagree on what the real problem is
• When customer feedback or data reveals friction

Here’s a few scenarios where problem framing is a useful exercise to go through:

When to use problem framing: dissatisfaction with an existing feature

Imagine you’re a Product Manager fielding a deluge of customer complaints about a feature that supposedly works as designed. Jumping straight to redesigning it might miss the underlying issue. 

Problem framing helps uncover that maybe the confusion stems from a naming convention or onboarding gap, not the feature functionality itself.

When to use problem framing: validating an idea from leadership

Or say your leadership team is pushing to build an integration with a third-party tool. But what’s the real driver? Is it user demand? A sales tactic? A retention lever? 

Framing the problem first helps ensure you’re not launching into delivery based on internal assumptions, but instead based on validated user needs and business goals.

When to use problem framing: exploring a new feature idea

Here’s a final scenario where problem framing should be used. Imagine your team is buzzing with energy around a brand-new feature idea, maybe something like a machine learning-powered dashboard. It sounds exciting and innovative. 

But before diving into wireframes, you need to take a step back to frame the problem it’s supposed to solve. Is this dashboard addressing a real user pain? What unmet need would it fulfill? Are customers struggling to make sense of their data or just asking for simpler reporting options?

Problem framing is a vital early step in Product Management that ensures you’re working on the right thing – before investing time, money, and resources. It’s the key to solving real problems for people, rather than building features someone thinks users will like. 

Who should be responsible for problem framing?

Problem framing should be a team sport.

While Product Managers typically drive the process, involving cross-functional stakeholders is key. Engineers, Designers, Marketers, Customer Teams – everyone brings unique insights into the problem. The goal is not to own the problem alone, but to create a shared language and understanding across the team.

Leadership should also be involved when the stakes are high or the problem touches multiple areas of the business. Their perspective helps align the problem with strategic goals and ensures the effort has the necessary buy-in.

In practice, the Product Manager often acts as the facilitator – organizing workshops, collecting context, and synthesizing insights. But this shouldn’t happen in a vacuum. Designers can highlight user experience issues. Engineers might point out architectural constraints or edge cases. Customer Success Teams can share patterns from the front lines. Each voice enriches the framing.

The result? A clearer, more accurate view of the problem – and a better foundation for building the right solution.

How do you do problem framing?

Problem framing isn’t just one exercise – it’s a mindset and a toolkit.

You can use structured methods like the “5 Whys“, root cause analysis, or the Jobs To Be Done framework. You might map out the user journey, analyze feedback, or run a problem framing workshop. The key is to explore broadly, question assumptions, and dig deep until the core problem becomes clear.

It’s less about finding the perfect format and more about asking the right questions.

6 steps of the problem framing process

Here’s a typical flow to get from messy symptoms to a cleanly framed problem:

1. Gather context

Start by collecting as much relevant information as possible. This includes customer feedback, behavioral data, support tickets, NPS responses, usage analytics, and internal insights from Sales or Customer Success. 

The goal here isn’t to jump to conclusions, but to immerse yourself in the signals and patterns. Ask: What pain points keep surfacing? Where are users dropping off? What are they asking for – and why?

2. Identify stakeholders and perspectives

Next, identify who’s impacted by the problem and who should have a voice in framing it. This often includes users, but also internal teams like Engineering, Design, Marketing, or even Legal. 

Set up interviews or collaborative sessions to gather their viewpoints. This ensures you’re not solving in a silo and helps expose blind spots early. The more perspectives you include, the better your framing will be.

3. Explore root causes

Now it’s time to dig deeper. Use techniques like the 5 Whys, Fishbone (Ishikawa) diagrams, or journey mapping to uncover what’s behind the pain. Is the problem technical, behavioral, or educational? Often, what looks like a UX issue might stem from unclear messaging, or what feels like a feature gap might be rooted in a lack of user understanding. Keep asking “why” until you hit the foundational layer of the issue.

4. Define constraints and desired outcomes

Before you start crafting the problem statement, get clear on your boundaries. What’s in and out of scope? Are there technical, legal, or timeline constraints? 

Also, define what success looks like. Is it reduced churn, higher conversion, faster time-to-value? This helps guide prioritization later and aligns the team on what “solving” the problem really means.

5. Create a problem statement

Take everything you’ve learned and boil it down into a concise, clear, and actionable problem statement. This is the artifact that will guide discovery and solutioning. 

The problem statement should name the affected users, describe the pain, and explain the impact. Most importantly, it should avoid suggesting a specific solution. You’re not pitching a fix yet – you’re defining the problem to solve.

6. Test and refine

Finally, put your problem framing to the test. Share it with team members, stakeholders, or even customers. Does it resonate? Are you describing something real and important? 

Iterate based on feedback until your statement is sharp, relevant, and widely understood. Good framing aligns everyone on what matters – before a single line of code is written.

Framing problem statements

The output of the problem framing process is a problem statement. This isn’t a fluffy mission statement – it’s a sharp, specific articulation of what needs solving.

A good problem statement:

• Describes the user or business pain
• Avoids jumping to solutions
• Highlights impact
• Is easy to understand and share

It becomes a north star for discovery and solutioning. For guidance on crafting a great one, check out our blog post on how to write Product Management problem statements.

Examples of problem framing in action

Now you understand the theory around problem framing, let’s have a look at a few real-world examples to help you see what this practice might look like in action. 

Example 1:

Let’s say customers are dropping off during onboarding.

Without problem framing:

“We need to redesign the onboarding flow.”

With problem framing:

• Feedback shows users are confused by jargon.
• Data reveals 60% of drop-offs happen at step two.
• Support tickets mention unclear expectations.

Framed problem statement:

“New users drop off during onboarding because the instructions at step two are unclear, leading to confusion and abandonment.”

Now, the team has a specific target, not just a hunch.

Example 2:

Here’s another scenario…Your team has a shiny new idea for a feature that lets users collaborate in real-time. Exciting, right? But before jumping in, you use problem framing to explore the actual need.

Without problem framing:

“Let’s build real-time collaboration because our competitor has it.”

With problem framing:

• Customer interviews show teams are emailing spreadsheets back and forth.
• Product usage data reveals a drop-off when teams try to co-edit items.
• Sales calls indicate lost deals due to lack of multi-user workflows.

Framed problem statement:

“Teams struggle to collaborate on plans because they lack a way to edit and comment together in real-time, resulting in inefficiency and lost opportunities.”

By framing the problem, the team isn’t just chasing a trend – they’re addressing a validated pain point with clear business impact.

What are the next steps after problem framing?

Once your problem is clearly framed, it’s time to transition from understanding the problem to actively solving it. This is where discovery, prioritization, and planning come into play. Think of the framed problem as a launchpad for focused, high-impact product development.

1. Validate your problem framing

Double-check that what you’ve framed resonates with your customers and internal stakeholders. Share the problem statement in customer interviews, internal reviews, or team workshops. Look for nods, questions, or pushback. If people are confused or unconvinced, you might need to revisit your framing.

2. Prioritize the problem

Not all problems are equally urgent or valuable to solve. Use prioritization frameworks like RICE or MoSCoW to assess impact, confidence, and effort. How does this problem rank against others in your roadmap? Does solving it tie into your quarterly OKRs or product vision?

3. Begin solution discovery

With a validated and prioritized problem, move into solution discovery. This might involve brainstorming sessions, competitor analysis, lo-fi prototyping, or hypothesis testing. 

Make sure your exploration remains anchored in the original problem – avoid leaping to shiny features that miss the mark.

4. Integrate into your roadmap and backlog

If discovery confirms there’s a strong case to act, formalize the work. Add initiatives or ideas to your roadmap. Create experiments, or user stories in your backlog. Tools like ProdPad’s idea management can help you manage and track this flow – from insight to impact.

5. Keep the problem visible

Don’t bury the problem statement. Use it in sprint planning, kickoffs, and retrospectives to keep everyone aligned on the “why” behind the work. It becomes a useful reference point to evaluate whether your eventual solution is actually delivering on the need you identified.

Problem framing doesn’t guarantee the perfect solution – but it massively increases your chances of building something that actually matters. It’s one of the smartest habits a product team can develop.

Want to make sure your team is solving the right problems? Try ProdPad’s problem-first approach to product discovery. Explore ProdPad or book a demo to see how it helps you frame, validate, and solve problems that matter.