Consulting
Problem framing workshop for a product team
Cross-functional session to convert pain points into actionable problem statements and align stakeholders on success criteria.
B2B product team · B2B SaaS · 1 day · Empathize · Define · 29 May 2026
“We stopped arguing about features and started arguing about whether we had the right problem - that was progress.”
- 8 participants
- 3 functions aligned
- 1 shared problem statement
- 3 success criteria
Challenge
A B2B product team was stuck. Engineering, product, and customer success each had a different view of the priority problem. Roadmap debates consumed meetings without convergence. Leadership needed a shared problem frame before committing build capacity.
Approach
A one-day facilitated workshop focused on Define - with just enough Empathize synthesis upfront:
- Morning: Review existing customer signals and cluster pain points by theme
- Midday: Stakeholder map - who is affected, who decides, who implements
- Afternoon: Draft and pressure-test problem statements; agree on success criteria
We used convergent thinking - divergent listing first, then explicit criteria for prioritization. No solution brainstorming until a problem statement was agreed.
Outcome
The team left with one prioritized problem statement, three measurable success criteria, and a short list of assumptions to validate in Develop. Roadmap discussions in the following sprint referenced the shared frame instead of re-opening scope.
Within two sprint cycles, backlog grooming time dropped noticeably because scope debates referenced the agreed problem statement rather than reopening discovery.
Details are anonymized; the pattern applies to any team where pain points exist but alignment does not.
What we'd do differently next time
Bring one customer-facing role into the afternoon session for a 30-minute empathy playback - hearing user language directly accelerates buy-in beyond synthesized pain points.