Problem Definition Sprint
Clarify a consequential problem.
The symptom is clear, but the cause is not. Before your team commits to a campaign, reorganization, or new system, we need a shared account of what is blocking the result.
At a glance
- Purpose
- Identify the constraint before committing to a fix.
- Includes
- Stakeholder conversations, evidence review, and a working discussion of the likely cause.
- Expected outcome
- A problem definition, evidence map, and prioritized decision brief.
When this fits
The decision has consequences.
A consequential problem affects customers, revenue, trust, team capacity, or a decision that will be costly to reverse. You can see the shortfall, but reasonable people disagree about why it is happening. Acting on the first explanation may send the team toward the wrong fix.
For example, weak growth could point to positioning, the offer, a broken customer handoff, poor evidence, or several of these at once. Brand strategy advisory can help when the promise and the experience diverge; leadership decision support helps when ownership and tradeoffs remain unresolved.
How we work
Test the brief with the people who must act.
- Hear the different accounts. I speak with the people who own the result and those doing the work, including what they have tried and what each person can decide.
- Check the evidence. We review available customer signals, measures, work in progress, and handoffs. We separate what is known from what is assumed.
- Challenge the explanation together. I bring back a plain account of the likely constraint. We test it with the people who will carry the decision, then name the owner and next step.
Some diagnostic work ends with a report. This engagement is built around a decision: you participate in testing the explanation, and the output names what your team can do next. It does not promise that every underlying cause will be proven in a short sprint.
What to expect
A defined scope and a usable decision brief.
We agree on the people to hear, the evidence available, the decision this work must support, the timeline, and the fee before starting. Your leaders keep their decision rights. I work with them and the people closest to the work, then challenge the emerging account openly.
You receive a one-page problem definition, an evidence and stakeholder map, and a prioritized decision brief. If the evidence remains thin or the team needs a larger investigation, the brief makes that limit and the next check clear.
Bring me the symptom.
Reach out if you want to get clear on what is blocking results. Tell me what you have tried and what needs to change.
Describe the problemClient perspective
“I highly recommend Jay Mandel as your brand strategist.”
Reported learning to build a consistent brand strategy around company values.
Before you commit.
We agree on scope, fee, milestones, and how to review progress before work starts. An initial inquiry carries no obligation.