Skill
Product Design

Spotting unsolved problems

Find a problem no one is solving yet.

Find a problem no one is solving yet.

What it really is

On the surface, Spotting unsolved problems can look like a single technique you either know or you don't. The real skill underneath is starting from the user's real problem and turning it into something worth building — and that's the part that actually transfers from one situation to the next. Here it shows up as a concrete, repeatable habit: find a problem no one is solving yet.

Why it matters

Building the right thing beats building the thing right. A Delta finds the problem worth solving before writing the code.

What good looks like

  • You separate the literal request from the underlying job.
  • You can name who the user is and what they're really trying to do.
  • You prioritize by impact, not by what's easy.

Common trap

Taking the feature request at face value and skipping the "why."

How to practice

The rep: Find a problem no one is solving yet.

Do it on a real problem, not a hypothetical — under the kind of pressure where it's tempting to skip. Land it and you earn the Opportunity Spotter badge. Repeat it until it stops feeling like a technique and starts feeling like instinct.