How do I stop guessing which user problem to fix first?

Spotlight

PAGE: https://alison.com/course/developing-strategy-to-solve-business-problems

PROMISE: Replace guesswork with a structured method to link vision and user support.

WHO: Early-stage teams struggling to connect front-line user feedback with leadership goals.

WHYNOW: The course is short and beginner-level, allowing quick alignment before scaling.

DESC: This management training course explains how to develop business strategies by harnessing OKR, reductive thinking and brainstorming to solve problems.

BEFORE: Support responses feel disconnected from the company roadmap.

BEFORE: Priority decisions rely on volume rather than strategic impact.

BEFORE: Improvements are guessed at without checking what actually works.

AFTER: Support workflows reflect specific, written problem statements.

AFTER: Daily tasks are tracked against defined key results.

AFTER: Strategy choices are backed by analyzed data before execution.

GAIN: A clear problem statement that separates symptoms from root causes.

GAIN: Objective key results that link immediate actions to long-term vision.

GAIN: A data-first approach to brainstorming that reduces wasted effort.

STEP: You are writing support replies without a clear link to long-term goals. || Indicate business issues and place them into a problem statement || You frame immediate user friction as a defined business problem before acting.

STEP: Team efforts drift because there is no shared measure of success. || Define your business objectives and key results || You align daily support tasks with measurable outcomes that serve the vision.

STEP: Ideas for improving user experience are scattered and unverified. || Analyse all necessary data before a brainstorming session to decide on the right strategy || You test solutions against real data instead of relying on intuition.

NOTFOR: Organizations that already have a mature, data-driven strategy function.

NOTFOR: Individuals seeking advanced financial modeling or legal compliance guidance.

FACT: Average duration: 1.5-3 Hours

FACT: CPD-accredited certificate available

FACT: Beginner level

COVERS: Identify the major factors that cause the problems facing your business

COVERS: Indicate business issues and place them into a problem statement

COVERS: Define your business objectives and key results

COVERS: Recognise potent strategies to solve business problems

COVERS: Analyse all necessary data before a brainstorming session to decide on the right strategy

COVERS: Evaluate the progress of your problem-solving plan by means of an action tracker

COVERS: Business Development

COVERS: Course Overview

COVERS: About This Course

COVERS: Course Description

COVERS: Read More

MODULE: Business Problems: Identify and Rectify || How to Identify Business Problems | Define Success by Setting Objectives | Developing Strategy for Solving Problems | Planning and Execution

What you are probably seeing

Support tickets pile up while internal engineering channels remain quiet, creating a disconnect between user pain and product priorities. Teams guess at features based on stale data or assumptions, leading to wasted development cycles.

The backlog grows, but the team lacks a clear mechanism to surface the specific user frustration that demands immediate attention. Without direct input, the next sprint is built on speculation rather than verified need.

Why it happens

Traditional feedback loops are too slow or too filtered to capture the nuance of user intent in real time. When engineers are isolated from support data, they miss the context needed to prioritize the right problem over the obvious one.

The lack of a direct bridge between user complaints and technical execution forces leadership to guess. This creates a cycle of low-impact fixes that fail to address the core friction holding users back.

What changed recently

2026-10-08 · audience research jobs
Internal tools teams are now empowering engineers directly:
• Fix user issues without handoffs.
• Drive long term vision and strategy.
• Identify the specific problem to solve.
Source: autocomplete

Step by step

1. Identify the top three recurring support themes from the last thirty days and list them for the team. Set up a weekly thirty-minute call between one engineer and one support agent to review open tickets directly. Assign each engineer a ‘customer shadowing’ session where they observe a live user interaction or watch recorded sessions. Create a shared document where support staff tag tickets with the specific job to be done by the user. Review this tag list at the start of each sprint to pick the next feature build.

Ways to go further

Start here: Audience Engagement With Email Marketing For when you are looking for channels to engage your audience outside the app. Open the free course on Alison ↗

Better fit: Developing Strategy to Solve Business Problems For when you need to align long term vision with immediate user support. Open the free course on Alison ↗

Affiliate links: CHEAPUNO may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you.

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