One of the things that I have learned in my rather long career in solving problems and crafting recommendations to solve client and our own organizational problems: Define the problem as clearly as possible.

Defining the problem is the first step in solving a problem. By clearly defining the scope and the inclusions of the problem, as well as its limitations and exclusions, one is critically thinking through the given problem.

Sometimes, the solution starts to rear its beautiful head during a thorough problem-definition session.

I believe that defining the problem as clearly as one can is a half-won battle.

I have also learned — the hard way — that the problem as originally stated is almost always not the real problem that needs to be solved.

Most of the problems that I have encountered as an analyst and as a strategist are problems about symptoms — How do we address waning sales? How do we make our process more efficient?  How do we address low consideration of our brand? How do we make people like us more? How do we make consumers choose us over competitors?

I have learned that due diligence to dig through and find out the real problems is a crucial first step in analyses and strategic planning. Knowing what the real problem is — and addressing the root cause of that problem — is crucial to the analytic and the strategy planning processes.