I fell in love with the solution, not the problem.

I recently worked on a juicy marketing problem where I spent lots of time with marketing owners who taught me about the consumer. This is my happy place.

However, I realized my mistake on a call with the execution team. I nailed the consumer problem but moved on to the solution without identifying execution challenges.

Fall in love with the problem before rushing to solve it.

It’s critical to start with a solid understanding of the consumer problem a campaign needs to solve. However, ideas are only as good as the team’s ability to execute them.  

It’s also crucial to understand a team’s existing and future impediments. Skip this step, and you risk under-delivering to the customer and draining the project team. Nail it, and you get to help the customer and the team.

#1. Deep dive into the consumer pain points to ensure that the work delivers value to the customer.

Listen to the consumer experts. Then create a swipe file (digital or paper) to keep ideas and sources of inspiration and stop there.  

#2. Then find the people who can tell you fifty eleven reasons why your ideas won’t work. Listen to every word.

This is important because it tells all sides of the problem. Start by assessing the execution team’s workload. Learn about the pressures that make the idea nearly impossible. Then sit with the information.

#3. Kill your darlings.

I learned this from my U|X certification instructor. The message -get rid of things that don’t add value even if it means starting over.

Falling in love with solutions before the problem can lead to false starts. However, understanding both consumer and execution team problems helps create customer value and team success.