Problem vs Solution
Find the need underneath “we need search.” · Product Judgment · Lesson 01 · 3 min
Problem vs Solution · 3 min
Product Judgment
A request arrives
A stakeholder says:
We need better search.
That sounds like a problem.
It is not.
It is already a proposed solution.
Product Judgment
Ask what happened
You learn that customers regularly open five or six documents before finding the latest version.
Now you have something closer to the real problem:
Users struggle to identify the current document quickly.
Search might solve that.
But maybe not.
Product Judgment
Several causes could look the same
The real issue might be:
- bad naming
- duplicate documents
- no version labels
- poor filtering
- outdated files appearing first
If you jump directly to “build search,” you can spend weeks solving the wrong problem beautifully.
Product Judgment
A useful PM habit
When someone asks for a feature, mentally add:
“…because?”
“We need notifications.”
Because?
“People miss deadlines.”
Better.
“We need an AI assistant.”
Because?
“Support agents spend ten minutes searching policy documents.”
Now there is something to investigate.
Product Judgment
Feature requests are still useful
Do not dismiss them.
A customer asking for export may really be telling you:
I cannot get my data into the workflow I already use.
That is valuable evidence.
The requested button is simply not automatically the best answer.
Product Judgment
What to understand first
Before discussing solutions, get clear on:
- Who is struggling?
- What are they trying to do?
- What happens today?
- How often does it happen?
- Why does it matter?
Then talk solutions.
Remember this
Remember this
“Build search” is a solution.
“Users cannot reliably find the current document” is a problem.
Strong PMs learn to separate the two.