Is it worth solving?
If I had to name the most useful thing to learn right now, it would be how to tell whether a problem is worth solving. A close second is how to hold people's attention, and for that, honestly, learn from the influencers. I am only starting on the second one. On the first, I think I have something worth sharing.
So this page is my attempt to find problems worth solving, and to show the process and how I got to the outcome.
In 16 years of building software I was lucky enough to ride the mobile wave from day one, and fortunate enough to sit on innovation teams inside Fortune 50 companies. If I had to reduce all of it to one line: it starts with a bored mind leading to an observation. In this series we get better at observing, so we can find ideas worth building.
Six criteria, scored 1 to 5.
Every week I log the problems I notice, score each one on the same six criteria, kill the weak ones and build the winner. Then I report back at 30 and 90 days on whether it was worth it. Each candidate is scored out of 30. A 1 on Acute or Reach kills a candidate, whatever else it scores.
Acute
1A mild annoyance
5Today's alternative is nothing, or painful
Frequency
1Once a year
5Daily or weekly
Reach
1Just me
5A named group, sized with a cited number
Current spend
1People do nothing
5People already pay money or real time on a workaround
Why now
1Just as solvable five years ago
5A recent change makes it solvable now
Buildable in a week
1Needs months
5Shippable by Friday
Index
- Sept 28-Oct 2
Do you know your net worth?
Three in four Americans can't estimate their net worth without checking apps. Only 38% of Canadians say they feel well informed about their finances.
Scored 26 of 30Read - Sept 21-25
What do you do with the dead time while Claude is working?
Most common answers, in no particular order: scroll Slack, check email, play with my cat, start another Claude session, go for a walk.
Scored 25 of 30Read