{"id":56330,"date":"2018-04-19T02:42:34","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T09:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/?p=56330"},"modified":"2023-03-13T07:04:56","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T07:04:56","slug":"forming-an-articulate-problem-statement-for-crowdsourcing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/forming-an-articulate-problem-statement-for-crowdsourcing\/","title":{"rendered":"Forming an Articulate Problem Statement for Crowdsourcing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Numerous product managers, HR professionals, R&D leaders, and beyond are launching\u00a0<\/span>crowdsourced innovation programs<\/span> at their organization. And even if they\u2019re great at getting people to engage and invest in the program (by sharing their ideas and building on the ideas of others), even if they\u2019re masters of marshaling resources and pushing ideas through to implementation, there\u2019s one other skill set that comes before all of that: the ability to create and articulate a problem statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Crowdsourcing (much like survey research) requires a great deal of strategy when considering what questions to ask and how best to ask them. It\u2019s not just about what you ask them, but in what order, using which words, sometimes so that the respondent doesn\u2019t always know what you\u2019re trying to get at \u2013 so that you get to the underlying psychology that\u2019s driving their behavior. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So in crowdsourcing the problem that you\u2019re solving is going to dictate a lot of things like your process (who are you solving for? when will you know it\u2019s solved), who you\u2019ll be sharing this question with (because who can solve it for you?), why you\u2019re solving this problem (so that you know its value and make sure it\u2019s a good use of everyone\u2019s time. So \u2013 for those of you that need just a few guidelines on building a successful crowdsourcing problem statement, here are some tips for you:<\/span><\/p>\n

Develop Empathy & Get to the Root Problem<\/b>. Sometimes you think you know what to solve, but it actually requires more uncovering in order to find better solutions. It\u2019s a good practice to start with your end user and what they want (<\/span>design thinking is great at this<\/span>). There\u2019s always the example in this Harvard Business Review<\/span> article<\/span><\/a> which talks about a team that realized they weren\u2019t actually trying to build a faster elevator, they were trying to keep their riders from getting bored while they ride\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Assemble Everything You Know So Far<\/b>. Find out what you already know to be true. Sometimes this brings up new discussions and possibilities, sometimes it establishes solution constraints that your crowdsourcing community ought to know about. Find ways to efficiently share and distribute this information.<\/span><\/p>\n

Set Expectations.<\/b> Let your crowd know that you know what you\u2019re looking for (for example, ideas that can be implemented in less than 30 days? Transformational ideas that focus on digital transformation?) and how you\u2019re evaluating, prioritizing, and responding to them. This will help the community manage their own expectations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Define Success Metrics.<\/b> The best problems know when they\u2019ve got a solution. Figure out how you\u2019re going to measure success and plan for that from the beginning. Be sure to set a baseline for today so that you can measure the change that your solution ends up creating.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once you have a defined problem statement that meets these qualifications, reach out to your crowd to get their ideas, validation, and feedback.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you want to learn more about how to form a comprehensive, valuable problem statement, you can watch this webinar recording on the subject.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Numerous product managers, HR professionals, R&D leaders, and beyond are launching\u00a0crowdsourced innovation programs at their organization. And even if they\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":56336,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[304],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nForming an Articulate Problem Statement for Crowdsourcing | QuestionPro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Numerous product managers, HR professionals, R&D leaders, and beyond are launching\u00a0crowdsourced innovation programs at their organization. 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