Are we solving the problems we need to solve?
I have a confession to make, I like Apple, I am in what tech circles would be called a Fanboy! I like the design of their products, the design of their AppleStore, the design of their advertising campaigns ... and figure Steve Jobs seems fascinating to me... such a shame that he left us a few years ago; with all his virtues and defects (apparently it was very difficult to have him as a boss!) I would love to know what would have happened in this technological moment that we are living with his presence ... Seeing how with his products he has been changing my day to day (iPod, iPhone, iPad, MacBook) I do not stop thinking what product he might have designed in this 2020; I wonder which problem he might be trying to solve for us
That's the topic of my weekly post, problems! how to solve a problem ... and what is the first step that has to happen to solve a problem? Define the problem well ... The other day browsing my Pinterest this quote appeared in my feed
If you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution.
That quote made me think about our industry ... In the Localization industry, we solve many problems! I often express that a Globalization / Localization team is a strategic partner ... it is not a service provider!! It is a strategic partner that helps the different stakeholders with whom it acts to:
• Penetrate new markets
• Assist local marketing teams to carry out relevant campaigns locally
• Create Brand voice of the product/company
• Define price strategy
• Choose the most appropriate font for our app or website
• Create a pleasant user experience applying the correct UX design by integrating the different factors to consider when executing the internationalization phase
• Summarizing a well-defined and executed Localization strategy will boost international revenue from companies operating globally
I have not encountered many situations in which meetings are held to make sure that we are defining correctly the problem to solve; We usually crave to the execution phase and spend little time analyzing the problem and making sure we all understand the problem we are trying to solve.
Nor have I found much concrete information about we can do to make sure we are defining the problem concretely, so the last 2 weeks I have been studying at Udemy about problem-solving; and reading a series of articles to get a clearer idea of what we can do to correctly define the problem (you can find them at the bottom of this post)
The following infographic is a summary of my research and my Udemy studies ... I hope this infographic can be useful to solve any problem that you are currently facing!
Click HERE to download the Cheat Sheet I created, hopefully, it is useful for you!
What about you? What strategies do you use to define the problem correctly in our Localization industry?
Have a lovely week!
Miguel
Interesting reads about problem-solving
The Power of Defining the Problem
https://hbr.org/2012/09/the-power-of-defining-the-prob
Are You Solving the Right Problem?
https://hbr.org/2012/09/are-you-solving-the-right-problem
Seven Steps for Effective Problem Solving in the Workplace
https://www.mediate.com/articles/thicks.cfm
In this post, I explore how chatGPT can become your devil’s advocate in localization, helping you challenge assumptions and think beyond the obvious