3 Problem Framing principles that help senior stakeholders make better decisions
I’ve lost count of how many product leaders have told me they spend more time in stakeholder meetings than actually building solutions. If that’s been your reality—where competing priorities and shifting opinions take center stage long before you’ve even pinned down the core problem—you’re in good company.
Here’s the good news: there’s a proven way to cut through the endless back-and-forth and start making real progress. It’s called Problem Framing, a methodology developed by the Design Sprint Academy and launched at Google in 2018. Today, I’m going to walk you through three key Problem Framing principles that help senior leaders make better decisions—no matter how many conflicting agendas you’re juggling.
Why Problem Framing?
Seven years ago, during our time as a digital design agency, our product squads were in a endless cycle of guesswork and wasted effort. We chased ill-defined objectives, wrestled with too many priorities, and had no clue of which user problems really mattered. That’s when the lightbulb moment happened: Problem Framing.
This shift saved us countless hours and brought so much clarity. The product decisions that came out of these sessions tackled genuine user pain points, stakeholders aligned faster, and we finally broke free from repetitive debates that led nowhere.
It was so powerful, that in 2018, Google invited us to San Francisco to learn our Problem Framing approach. Their need? To clarify what matters most—before anyone even starts drafting solutions.
Who is this for?
If you’re a Product Leader, you know this balancing act all too well:
- Juggling urgent business needs with long-term user value
- Convincing leadership to bet on your next big idea
- You’re managing a cross-functional team that changes course as soon as a new competitor emerges or a market trend shifts.
If any of these scenarios ring a bell, keep reading.
Understanding senior leaders: 4 key insights
We often assume senior leaders are “difficult” because they have strong opinions. But the truth is more nuanced. Here are four insights that can dramatically change how you approach them.
1. Senior leaders don’t “love to talk”—they want to be heard and validated
From an outsider’s perspective, it can look like senior stakeholders just want the floor to themselves. But it’s less about airtime and more about feeling heard—especially by peers at the same level. Imagine you’re in their seat: you’re accountable for major decisions, your words carry weight, and yet you rarely have a structured space to articulate your concerns and priorities.
Problem Framing flips that dynamic. In a carefully facilitated workshop, you:
- Give each leader dedicated space to voice their views.
- Encourage others to practice active listening—not just waiting to speak.
- Acknowledge the validity of each perspective, building mutual respect.
When everyone feels seen and valued, you remove one of the biggest barriers to alignment: the need for validation.
It’s amazing how quickly people can come together once they’ve been given the respect—and platform—they deserve.
2. Most senior leaders don’t thrive in uncertainty—and who can blame them?
Raise your hand if you’ve ever asked your executive sponsor to make a high-stakes decision with nothing more than a hunch or an educated guess. Chances are, it didn’t go well.
Uncertainty makes people uneasy, and that unease often triggers one of two responses: fight or flight. They’ll either push back aggressively—questioning your every assumption—or they’ll stall, postpone, and effectively “check out” to avoid making the wrong call.
That’s why Problem Framing insists on evidence-based discussions. You do your homework—gathering user insights, market data, competitive research—and present your findings in a clear, digestible way.
This data-driven preparation transforms ambiguity into something far more manageable, lowering anxiety and building trust.
A leader who’s no longer fighting or fleeing is free to do what they do best—make strategic decisions that drive your product development forward.
3. Senior leaders operate at a helicopter view—and need help to zoom in
By the time a leader reaches the executive level, they’re often looking at the organization from 30,000 feet. That vantage point is critical for spotting trends, navigating market shifts, and making enterprise-wide calls. But there’s a downside: it can be surprisingly easy to lose sight of what’s happening on the ground.
Problem Framing bridges this gap by mixing data visualization with focused discussions. The idea is simple but powerful: when you show leaders a visual representation of key data—whether it’s a customer journey map or a service blueprint—they can:
- Zoom In: Pinpoint exactly where a user might abandon the product or where a process bottleneck occurs.
- Zoom Out: See how smaller problems fit into the bigger strategic picture, like the overall ROI or how the product aligns with larger corporate goals.
Why does visualization work so well? A few reasons:
- Speed: The human brain processes visuals up to 60,000 times faster than text.
- Credibility: Present data as text, and roughly 68% of people believe it. Present it visually, and that number skyrockets to 97%.
People trust—and remember—visuals more than a wall of bullet points.
Whether your project is about reducing food waste in office canteens or streamlining B2B onboarding, clear visualizations enable leaders to align on decisions more quickly and act with greater confidence.
4. Senior leaders also work in silos and it’s lonely at the top
We often talk about siloed teams in engineering or design, but silos can be even worse at the senior leadership level. Sure, leaders see the big picture, but they’re often missing crucial context from their peers. They’re dealing with different KPIs, deadlines, and incentives—so it’s no wonder aligning can feel like herding cats.
Here’s where Problem Framing again comes to the rescue. In the “Understand the Context” and “Justify the Business Need” stages of the workshop, each leader outlines their constraints, motivations, and success metrics. Suddenly, the Director of Finance’s insistence on restructuring makes more sense to the Director of Product, who now knows the financial ramifications of delaying those changes. One by one, you dissolve silos by ensuring everyone is looking at the same map of interdependencies.
The 3 Pillars of Problem Framing
So how exactly does Problem Framing tackle these senior leadership challenges? It rests on three foundational pillars:
1. Strategic empathy
This isn’t about warm-and-fuzzy feelings—it’s about being relentless in understanding what your stakeholders care about and why they might resist certain decisions. Unpacking their metrics, fears, and pressures helps you craft a more compelling case for the path forward.
2. Evidence-based decision-making
Gut feelings are excellent for sparking ideas, but when you’re asking senior leaders to commit resources, you’d better show them the receipts. By gathering user insights, market research, and other relevant data, you reduce uncertainty and shift the conversation from opinions to facts.
3. Effective data visualization
If data remains a spreadsheet that only a few people can interpret, it won’t unite your team. Turn it into visuals—a customer journey map or a service blueprint—and you’ve created an instant conversation starter. Leaders can zoom in to clarify details or zoom out to see overarching trends, all in one session.
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Conclusion
When you bring Problem Framing to the table, you’re not just introducing another meeting or another process. You’re creating a structured environment where senior stakeholders can:
- Speak their mind and feel validated.
- Rely on data to calm uncertainty.
- Zoom in and out of the details.
The result? Fewer debates, faster decisions, and a product that hits the mark for the people who matter most—your users.
If you’re tired of navigating the same old debates without ever reaching a resolution, give Problem Framing a shot. It might just be the missing piece that turns your stakeholder tug-of-war into a cohesive, forward-driven conversation.
Don’t miss our first webinar of 2025! Get introduced to our Problem Framing approach and the Strategic Opportunity Brief—a key tool that helps you ask the right questions and keep your stakeholders aligned.
