Problem Framing Workshops

How I facilitate collaborative workshops with cross-functional teams to frame problems, align stakeholders, and prioritise opportunities based on user research and business impact.

Why Problem Framing Workshops?

These workshops bring together diverse perspectives to ensure we're solving the right problem before investing in solutions. By involving engineering, design, operations, and business stakeholders early, we build shared understanding, reduce rework, and make better decisions grounded in user research rather than assumptions.

Workshop Structure

A typical workshop runs 2.5-3 hours with clear phases. The structure is flexible and adapts based on the complexity of the problem and team size.

Note: These are examples of activities that may be done in each phase, not a strict agenda. The specific activities are tailored to the problem context and team needs.

Preparation

1-2 days before

Define workshop objectives

Clarify what decisions need to be made and what outcomes are expected from the session

Identify and invite participants

Include representatives from engineering, design, operations, business analysis, QA, and senior management to ensure diverse perspectives

Gather and synthesise research

Compile user research findings, data insights, and competitive analysis into digestible formats

Prepare workshop materials

Create Miro boards, prepare prompts, and set up collaboration tools

Share pre-read materials

Send participants background context and research findings to review beforehand

Opening

15 minutes

Set the context

Review workshop objectives, agenda, and expected outcomes

Establish working agreements

Set ground rules for collaboration (e.g., all ideas are valid, build on each other, stay focused)

Warm-up activity

Quick icebreaker to get people comfortable sharing and thinking creatively

Problem Exploration

30-45 minutes

Present research findings

Share user research insights, pain points, and data through visual boards (Miro/Confluence)

Silent brainstorming

Give participants time to individually reflect and write down their understanding of the problem

Problem statement clustering

Group similar problem statements together to identify common themes and patterns

Root cause analysis

Use techniques like "5 Whys" to dig deeper into underlying causes rather than symptoms

Problem Framing

45-60 minutes

Craft problem statements

Collaboratively write clear, specific problem statements using the format: "How might we..."

Impact vs effort mapping

Plot identified problems on a 2x2 matrix to understand which have highest impact and lowest effort

Prioritisation voting

Use dot voting or other prioritisation techniques to align on which problems to tackle first

Identify constraints

Openly discuss technical, resource, and timeline constraints that will shape solutions

Solution Ideation

30-45 minutes

Divergent thinking

Generate multiple solution approaches without judgment (quantity over quality at this stage)

Sketch and share

Quick sketching of ideas followed by gallery walk to view all concepts

Convergent thinking

Group and refine ideas, combining the strongest elements

Assumption identification

Call out assumptions that need to be tested or validated

Alignment & Next Steps

20-30 minutes

Agree on approach

Reach consensus on the solution direction and key decisions made

Define success metrics

Establish how we'll measure if the solution is working

Assign actions and owners

Create clear action items with responsible parties and deadlines

Document and share

Capture workshop outputs and share with broader team and stakeholders

Best Practices

Psychological Safety

Create an environment where people feel safe sharing ideas, challenging assumptions, and admitting uncertainties without fear of judgment.

Time Boxing

Keep activities time-boxed to maintain energy and focus. Use timers and be disciplined about moving forward.

Visual Collaboration

Use visual tools (Miro, Figma, whiteboards) to make thinking visible and create shared understanding.

Equal Voice

Ensure all participants have equal opportunity to contribute, not just the loudest voices or most senior people.

Separate Divergent from Convergent

Keep idea generation separate from decision-making. First expand possibilities, then narrow down.

Build on Research

Ground discussions in user research and data rather than opinions or internal assumptions.

Tools & Platforms

Miro

Virtual whiteboard for remote collaboration and visual thinking

Figma

Quick sketching and visual ideation

Confluence

Documentation and sharing workshop outcomes

Microsoft Teams

Video conferencing for remote workshops

Jira

Tracking action items and follow-up tasks

Good ol' pen and paper

Low-fidelity sketching and thinking that everyone can do, no learning curve

Example from Practice

In the contractor workflow optimisation project, I facilitated a problem framing workshop after completing user research. The session included:

Presenting UX research findings on a Miro board showing contractor pain points and journey maps
Cross-functional team (engineering, operations, QA, business analysis) collaboratively prioritising friction points
Identifying that workflow inefficiencies, not job complexity, were causing 14-minute job times
Aligning on the decision to optimise the existing workflow rather than complete redesign

This alignment was critical for gaining stakeholder buy-in and ensuring the team understood both the problem and the solution approach before development began.

See the full case study