Problem Statement - Free Template
A PDF toolkit for structuring problem framing conversations with your team. Includes the hourglass model showing how to move from broad context through a sharp moment of definition and into focused action.
Based on our full guide to the Problem Statement.
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What's in this Problem Statement template
The Problem Statement toolkit walks you through the five zones of effective problem framing:
- Context - gathering the facts, conditions, and evidence around the issue
- Impact - understanding who's affected and what's at stake
- Define - naming the problem in one clear sentence using the 5Ws framework
- Approach - agreeing how you'll investigate, not what you'll fix
- Action - choosing a direction of travel and the first concrete steps
It includes the full hourglass diagram plus a worked example showing how a housing association used the framework to reframe a "customer service problem" as a structural issue.
Tips for using it
- Work through it as a team rather than alone - the conversation is as valuable as the document it produces
- Allow 60-90 minutes for a first pass, and expect to redraft the Define statement three or four times
- Pair it with an Empathy Map if the problem is people-centred, or the 5 Whys if you need to trace symptoms back to root causes
- If the problem resists clear definition, it might be a wicked problem - that's useful to know in itself
Operational Effectiveness
When a team keeps solving the wrong problem - or different people are solving different problems - the issue is usually upstream of the solution. Mutomorro's operational effectiveness work helps teams get to clarity before committing to action.
Organisational Alignment During Restructuring
When a global payments company prepared for independence, the challenge wasn't rebranding - it was building organisational coherence across six departments that had never needed to work as one.
Read the case study →
