Problem setting: what it is and what it means

Problem setting is the act that gives the problem found a scope, a measure and an affected party, that is, it makes it an object of work before anyone looks for its causes. The scope says where the piece of work involved begins and ends, the measure says how many times, how long and how much it costs, and the affected party says who bears the effect, inside or outside the company. A shared impression — "deliveries are going badly" — thus becomes a verifiable sentence, readable by someone who noticed nothing. In the sequence find, set, solve it takes the middle place; it happens at the desk and takes about ten minutes: when it is skipped, the analysis starts from a generic sentence and produces generic causes.

Distinctive: gives the problem found a scope, a measure and an affected party
Distinctive: a verifiable sentence
Essential: makes it an object of work
Essential: before anyone looks for its causes
Essential: who bears the effect
Constant: find, set, solve

Glossary

Problem setting

The practice of giving shape to a problem already found — scope, measure, who suffers from it — so that it becomes analyzable before it is analyzed.