Problem statement examples
Who is stuck, what fails, and why it matters. The fix stays out.
What the sentence is allowed to contain
A problem statement, problem description, or statement of the problem names a gap for a specific person. A usable template has four parts: who, the situation, the obstacle, and the cost of leaving it. It does not name the feature you already want to build. 'Users need a redesigned dashboard' is a solution wearing a costume. Problem statement examples below stay on the obstacle.
Templates for a problem statement are this structure, not a paragraph of market language. If you cannot name a person and a cost, you are not ready to write it. Stakeholder mapping helps when 'who' is a crowd.
Samples
Evening-shift nurses need a handoff they can read in one place because notes sit in three tools, and the first hour of the shift is spent searching rather than with patients.
A club treasurer needs last month's expenses in one list because receipts arrive as photos in a chat thread, and the advisor asks for a total the treasurer cannot defend.
A student submitting a field-trip form needs to know the date rule before they collect signatures because forms signed for next week are returned, and the trip date is then too close.
Each sample could be solved several ways. That is the test. If only one product idea fits the sentence, rewrite the sentence. The product review is where you later ask whether the chosen fix moved the cost.
Questions
- What is a problem statement?
- A short description of who has a problem, what they cannot do, and what it costs, written without committing to a solution.
- What does a problem statement template include?
- Who, the situation, the obstacle, and the cost. Leave a blank where a product name would go. That blank is intentional.
- How long should a problem statement be?
- One or two sentences. If it needs a page, it contains more than one problem or it contains a solution pitch.