Stop inventing product problems; start solving customer problems

Pavel Samsono addresses how teams often fall in love with problems rather than solutions, emphasizing that 'good designers fall in love with problems, not with solutions.' The key insight is distinguishing between customer problems (what users actually face) and product problems (what teams want to build). A common example: when a customer says 'users don't have this tool,' the real problem might be a solution statement in disguise—they may be trying to solve a product problem rather than understanding the underlying customer need. The framework involves asking customers to 'describe the problem they are facing' first, then identifying whether requests are actually solution statements that miss the real user pain points. Teams that focus on customer problems create products that truly address user needs, while teams that invent product problems often build features without moving key metrics. Engineering leaders will learn to recognize when they're building solutions looking for problems versus building solutions that address validated customer pain points, ultimately leading to better product-market fit and user satisfaction.