Before You Act, Define the Problem—Why Most Solutions Miss the Mark

A startup is struggling: customer complaints about a popular app are climbing. In an urgent team huddle, someone suggests revamping the support website, and heads nod—it's an easy fix and makes them feel productive. Resources are devoted to the new FAQ, and months later, users are still frustrated. It takes a sharp-eyed intern to ask, 'Has anyone talked to the customers directly about why they’re unhappy?' Only then do they discover the problem is a hidden bug in the latest update, not a lack of documentation.

The trap is common. In school, a student might blame bad grades on a tough teacher, pouring hours into old assignments instead of asking for targeted help. In families, parents jump to punish instead of asking what's behind a teenager's silence. The urge to quickly solve a surface problem is strong—the brain loves closure, and so does a nervous team.

By splitting problem definition from solution generation, teams and individuals gain access to valuable perspectives and often avoid wasted effort. Psychology research shows we have an availability bias—we latch onto the most obvious cause or fix and rarely pause long enough to see if it's the core issue. Delaying action, as counter-intuitive as it feels, often puts you in a better spot for any solution you eventually roll out.

Next project, fight the urge to solve right away: schedule a separate conversation or notebook session (or even just 10 minutes at your desk) solely to describe and explore the real problem. Invite input, write it out so clearly that a friend could understand, and every time you catch yourself jumping toward fixes, bring yourself back to root causes. You’ll find that by holding back a bit at the start, your eventual solution is ten times more likely to work the first time. Try pausing the next time a problem comes up—it’ll save you pain in the long run.