First Principles: What is a Problem Manager
In the Problem Manager blog and podcast (and eventually book) I want to build up to our main topic from first principles. Hey, if it is good enough for Elon Musk, then it should be good enough for us, right? So let’s begin simply enough by defining our central terms: Problem and Manager.
What is a Problem?
Here at The Problem Manager when we talk about problems we are using that term in the more ancient sense of the word. In ancient Greek, proballein meant “to put forward”. Pro meaning before and ballein meaning to throw. Some definitions also include the word obstacle or barrier to be overcome. So when we use the word problem here we mean to…
put forward an obstacle/challenge for investigation.
We are focused specifically on business problems of interest to Product Managers, Market Managers, Product Owners, Business Analysts, Business Consultants and other business professionals which help organizations define and evolve their products and services. Only business problems which relate in some way to the definition, evolution or delivery of an organization’s products and services are of interest to us here at The Problem Manager.
And for completeness, we are not interested here in personal problems, social problems (except as they relate to our audience), ethical/moral problems, cosmological problems, geological problems, et cetera.
Finally, here at The Problem Manager we are only interested in the problems, not their answers or solutions. Our premise is that if we fully and thoroughly articulate the problem, then answers or solutions will suggest themselves. And like the root system of a tree, the more deeply and broadly we can define the problem, the bigger and higher the tree / solution can grow.
What is a Manager?
Can we agree that a Manager is one who manages? Which of course is just to shift our definition challenge from Manager to manage. Manage is derived from the Latin root manus which means hand. So to manage means to handle. Historically, the term was often used for handlers of horses, which helps in our context because it conveys a sense of nurturing versus eliminating. Our problem Manager is interested in caring for, nurturing, and developing problems, not eliminating them. Here at The Problem Manager then, a manager is someone who cares for, nurtures, develops, handles and is responsible for Problems. Not the answers or solutions. Just the problems.
Of course, as much as we might wish for this to be the person’s title, it is highly unlikely. You, dear Problem Manager, may have the title Product Manager, Market Manager, Product Owner, Business Analyst or Consultant. But if you are responsible for market and/or customer problems then we are referring to you.
Examples
Problem Examples
Market Problem: Where is the Remote Control?
While doing market research, a major TV manufacturer uncovered the problem that people regularly misplace their TV remote control. Customers did not identify this as a problem that needed solving, but it was a common issue.
Product Problem Statement: Tedious Mobile Bill Payment
Customers who use their mobile phones for banking find paying bills tedious and the process of entering the details for each bill cumbersome, error prone and time consuming.
Jobs to Be Done Statement: Taxes
File my taxes with confidence.
Consulting Discovery Question: Priority
What is your number one priority for this business unit during this fiscal year?
Problem Manager Examples
- Business Analyst
- Business Consultant
- Market Manager
- Product Owner
- Product Manager
- Product Marketing Manager
So What Is a Problem Manager?
So bringing our two central terms together, we can now define a Problem Manager as follows:
A Problem Manager is anyone in a business who is responsible for the capture, articulation, definition, documentation, clarification, communication, classification and other activities related to the market/customer problems the business desires to address with its products and services.
The Problem Manager has a handle on these problems. The Problem Manager, like the horse handler, cares for, grooms, and develops these problems to best enable the business to understand and act on them. Problem Manager is unlikely to be their official organizational title. Rather, their title may be Business Analyst, Business Consultant, Market Manager, Product Owner, Product Manager, Product Marketing Manger or other. But their responsibilities will include managing problems which relate in some fashion to the products and services of the organization. A horse handler doesn’t solve or eliminate horses. They care, feed, and groom them. Likewise for a Problem Manager and problems.
