The Problem Space

 
Click here to enlarge.

You are looking at what I am looking at while I write this. (Besides the place where I work it's also one of my screensavers.) The picture is one interpretation of a term I use in my writing and in my presentations to clients: the problem space. I haven't heard anyone else use the phrase and I'd like to see it get some traction out there in marketing land.

What most companies are marketing, of course, are solutions -- which begs the question: solution to what? By saying the problem space, we are expressing the idea that problems don't come in one size or that they are one-dimensional. That means solutions must also be multi-dimensional and must be contoured to the problem -- in size, shape, etc. As I said to a client this morning, it's sort of like a key fitting a lock.

A space signifies context, which implies awareness of the underlying issues.

The term also sounds better than just the word problem. A problem is like a product, a single instance of a solution (or its application). A space signifies context, which implies awareness of the underlying issues. It's not just a phrase; it's also an idea which I think needs to be expressed more often.