What is a Problem Context?
Date : February 10, 2021 By
A problem context is a specific situation that occurs frequently enough, or is painful enough, to warrant solving. Coming up with a problem context is likely to be the most difficult part of preparing for your customer development interview. It’s extremely nuanced. And it’s equally important.
If you haven’t read my article about the problem hypothesis, start there first.
The problem hypothesis consists of three parts:
- Who you think the customer is
- What their problems are
- What benefits they get from solving this problem
Whereas the problem context focuses specifically on the problem:
The problem context relates specifically to #2 in the list above — truly understanding what their problems are. It represents the likely situation that a user finds themself in when the problem occurs. So looking at the made-up example of the quick dry clothing idea. We came up with this user story:
“As [an athlete], I want [wear clothing that dries quickly] so that [I don’t feel sticky and uncomfortable when I sweat].”
So in that example, the problem context is the situation an athlete is likely to be in when they experience sticky clothing.
What situation could that be? Well it’s likely to be different for each specific user segment. Let’s try “backpackers” first.
Imagine a backpacker on mile 7, the terrain is getting tougher, the sun is directly overhead and it’s hot, you’ve got water, but it’s not cold anymore, your pack is feeling heavier than when you started and you’ve still got miles to cover before setting up camp.
That’s a problem context. It’s in that situation that a backpacker is likely to feel the pain of sticky and uncomfortable clothing. And it’s a situation that happens just about every time they go backpacking.
Let’s look at a few real world examples:
Udemy‘s Problem Context
You are teaching yoga but you only have one client — your problem is that you need to reach more customers.
Zoom‘s Problem Context
You have a meeting but you’re not in the office – your problem is that you need to see your co-workers.
Etsy‘s Problem Context
You make beautiful crafts but you live in Alaska — your problem is that nobody is around to buy your products.
Dropbox‘s Problem Context
You are on an airplane with no internet connection — your problem is that you need access to your files from anywhere.
Those examples are fairly curt. It’s better to tell a bit of a story with your problem context. The more your customer can visualize the situation, the more likely they are to resonate with it. Take the Dropbox example.
I might something like say:
“Last week I went to visit some friends in San Francisco. It was a weekday so I had a presentation to work on for my job. I thought I had downloaded the files before I left but realized I had forgotten to. With no internet connection on the plane I was out of luck.”
By putting the customer in a problem context like this, they’re more likely to give me some insights about your idea or even validate whether the problem even exists for them.
And I’d probably end the story with a question like “Has that ever happened to you?”
In other posts about the benefits of founders solving their own problems. Many startups have begun that way. A founder has an itch they simply can’t find a way to scratch — so they build their own solution. This can be helpful when coming up with a problem context because it will be a situation you’ve found yourself in many times. But this isn’t critical. I’m not a backpacker, but I can imagine a situation where a backpacker would feel sticky and want a quick dry t-shirt.
The trick here is to develop a problem context for each customer segment you may interview. So in the “quick dry” example, you would need to come up with a problem context for each different customer: runners, cyclist, etc. This takes some prep work, but it’s essential for setting up a successful customer interview.
Now, just so there’s no confusion between the problem hypothesis and the problem context, let’s recap.
Problem Hypothesis
Is your attempt to state who the customer is, what their problems are, and what benefits they get from your solution.
Problem Context
Is a situation that the customer is likely to find themselves in when they experience the problem.
The two go hand in hand. Here’s how I look at it. We use the problem context to get users to validate the problem hypothesis.