Decisions, Money & Entrepreneurship
Spot Problems Worth Solving
This lesson helps students spot real problems in everyday life before jumping to solutions. They collect examples and create a Problem Bank.
What you will learn
- Hunt for real friction in your daily life by noticing the annoyances and inefficiencies you have habituated to and stopped seeing clearly.
- Distinguish meaningful problems from trivial complaints using urgency, frequency, and real user pain as the three filters.
- Gather real evidence from someone using something, instead of assuming what the problem is from your own head.
- Sort any friction point into one of three buckets using the (a)+(b) discrimination test, deciding whether it is a real problem, a trivial complaint, or an unvalidated assumption, so you can tell which problems are worth your time before you build.
What happens in this lesson
Chapter 1: Friction Hunt
Hunt for real friction in your daily life by noticing the annoyances and inefficiencies you have habituated to and stopped seeing clearly.
What you make: A saved friction hunt log containing at least five specific friction points from the learner's own daily life.
Chapter 2: Problem Vs Trivial Complaint
Distinguish meaningful problems from trivial complaints using urgency, frequency, and real user pain as the three filters.
What you make: A saved problem ranking chart showing three problems the learner scored on urgency, frequency, and pain.
Chapter 3: Observe A User
Gather real evidence from someone using something, instead of assuming what the problem is from your own head.
What you make: A saved user observation notes document capturing friction the learner observed in a real person (or themselves) using something.
Chapter 4: Real, Trivial, Or Unvalidated
Sort any friction point into one of three buckets using the (a)+(b) discrimination test, deciding whether it is a real problem, a trivial complaint, or an unvalidated assumption, so you can tell which problems are worth your time before you build.
What you make: A completed Problem Validation Challenge round demonstrating the learner can discriminate the three buckets at or above the 6/10 pass threshold.
Chapter 5: Problem Bank
Build a shortlist of problems worth revisiting later, so you always have a small pool of real problems to return to when you want to start a new project.
What you make: A completed Problem Bank with at least five real, ranked problems the learner could return to in future creator work.
Chapter 6: Which Problem Is Worth Your Time?
Evaluate multiple real problems using evidence, audience size, and feasibility so you can choose the strongest problem to pursue next.
What you make: A ranked shortlist of three problems with a written justification for the top choice and one problem rejected with reasons.
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