Understand the problem first. Choose the solution second.
When companies decide to solve a problem by replacing their current systems or building their own, the focus is often on what goals do we want to achieve?
This usually looks like this:
Customer: “We want to receive and dispatch items digitally, through scanning them.”
Luminout IT: “Why do you believe you need that functionality?”
Customer: “There are too many mistakes made and as a result our stock quantities are out of control.”
"Solutions arrive quickly"
People naturally think in solutions. A sales manager may ask for a CRM, an operations team may request a mobile app, or finance may ask to automate a process. Those ideas can be valid, but they should not replace understanding the underlying business problem.
Consider the difference between “we need a CRM” and “our sales team cannot reliably see customer interactions and follow-up actions.” The second statement gives us something to investigate. It tells us what is failing today without prematurely deciding how it must be fixed.
Starting with a preferred solution narrows the project too early. The organization may buy software for a problem caused by process design, poor data, unclear responsibilities or a missing integration. In other cases, a relatively small change to an existing platform may solve the problem without introducing another application.
A useful problem definition identifies who experiences the problem, what happens today, why that situation is undesirable and what business impact it creates. Only then should the team evaluate possible solutions.
"Why the distinction matters"
"Technology is a means, not the objective"
Good technology consulting sometimes results in a new ERP, a custom application or an integration. Sometimes it results in a process change or better use of software the organization already owns.
The discipline is to avoid falling in love with the solution before the problem is understood.
Key Take away
Describe the business problem independently of the technology you currently believe will solve it.