Einstein supposedly said that if he had an hour to solve a problem, then he would start by spending 55 minutes framing the problem. But sadly, I frequently see technology firms failing to frame customer problems. Internet home pages are full of smiling faces and grand claims. Product pages describe functionality. Social media posts are full of humblebragging. Sales enablement focuses on capabilities and beating the competition. Product demonstrations focus on putting on a show. And salespeople talk too much. (Guilty as charged). All of the above fail to frame the customer problem. (Oddly, firms discuss solutions on their web sites despite not actually discussing any problems). And if you don’t clearly frame the customer’s problem, then how can they trust you to solve it?

The reasons for this failure are beyond the remit of this article. Is it human nature, cultural, a passing trend? It really doesn’t matter. But we should be aware of it and try to resist it. It happens in strategy development too. And maybe that’s a contributing factor.

Prof. Roger Martin, once named #1 management thinker in the world, describes strategy development as a problem-solving technique. So, back to Einstein, it should start with framing the problem. But too often, just like in the scenarios that I list above, I see strategy development starting with an inward-looking analysis rather than looking outside for customer problems to solve.

In my other articles, you can read how framing the problem is championed by many of the greatest ever business thinkers. Michael Porter argued that a firm’s strategy should clearly define customer needs. Clayton Christensen advised firms to explore for jobs that people are struggling to get done. Theodore Levitt taught that the focus of marketing should always be on customer needs not products. (Reference the famous ’¼ inch hole not ¼ inch drill’ example). Geoffrey Moore wrote that firms should identify process owners “in pain” due to unsolved problems. This list could go on to Peter Drucker, Philip Kotler, Christopher Lochhead and many more whose work I often refer to.

So, when you are developing your firm’s strategy, please start by framing the problem. Then push the collected insights across the rest of your firm so that colleagues can also focus on the customer problem in their work and communication.