Problem Statement Sharpener
When your problem statement is vague, accidentally includes your solution, describes a demographic instead of a real person, or could apply to dozens of different products.
Submitted by @dotsystemsdevs
Prompt
I have a draft problem statement that needs sharpening. Apply the following rules to critique and rewrite it. My draft problem statement: "[PASTE YOUR PROBLEM STATEMENT HERE]" Evaluate my draft against these failure modes and call out every one that applies: 1. SOLUTION CONTAMINATION: Does the statement describe a solution or feature instead of a problem? A problem statement must describe pain, not a fix. Flag any solution language. 2. DEMOGRAPHIC INSTEAD OF PERSON: Does it say "small business owners" or "developers" instead of describing a specific person in a specific situation? A good problem statement names a real moment: "a solo founder who just shipped their first SaaS and has no idea if anyone wants it." 3. UNMEASURED PAIN: Does it describe the pain in vague terms like "struggle" or "find it difficult"? Flag this. Good problem statements quantify: "spends 3 hours per week manually," "loses the sale 40% of the time because." 4. MULTIPLE PROBLEMS: Does it try to describe more than one problem? A sharp problem statement has exactly one problem. 5. FALSIFIABILITY: Could this problem statement describe 10 different products? If yes, it is too vague. A sharp statement is specific enough that only one or two products could plausibly solve it. After the critique, rewrite the problem statement as a single sentence using this structure: [Specific person] in [specific situation] can't [specific action] because [specific root cause], which costs them [specific measurable consequence]. Then give me 2 alternative versions that approach the same underlying problem from a different angle, in case the first framing isn't quite right. Do not explain the rewrite at length. Give me the critique, then the 3 options, then stop.