Hidden Signs You're Solving the Wrong Problem

Why Friction Points to Deeper Flaws in Problem-Solving

Nov 18, 2024

Have you ever felt like your team was making progress, yet something still felt fundamentally off?

It’s easy to fall into the cycle of relentless iteration—polishing, refining, and optimizing—only to realize you’re stuck spinning your wheels.

The tweaks feel productive, the progress looks good on paper, but the deeper issue remains untouched: you’re solving the wrong problem.

I learned this the hard way during a product design phase that felt like running on a treadmill.

Every meeting brought new tweaks, every iteration seemed better than the last, but the results were hollow.

Our improvements only masked deeper issues. The more we refined, the clearer it became: We weren’t building forward—we were building sideways.

In this post, you’ll learn how to:

Recognize the subtle signs that your solutions are masking deeper issues.
Identify three patterns that reveal you might be solving the wrong problem.
Use a practical framework to shift from surface-level fixes to meaningful breakthroughs.

When Solutions Create Problems

At first glance, everything seemed fine. The demos looked promising. Each iteration addressed feedback, resolved specific pain points, and improved individual workflows.

But as we dug deeper, cracks started to show:

Changes that delighted some users confused others.
Solutions that simplified one workflow made three others more complicated.
Each improvement chipped away at the product’s overall coherence.

We weren’t moving forward—we were optimizing ourselves into a corner. Every change felt like progress, but the pieces no longer added up. We were investing resources into solutions that looked right on paper but didn’t hold together in practice.

Does this sound familiar?

These aren’t signs of poor execution. They’re signals that you’re solving the wrong problem.

Why We Miss the Signs

Recognizing these signals takes more than observation—it requires the courage to question what’s beneath the surface of our work.

Admitting we’re solving the wrong problem can feel uncomfortable. It forces us to confront difficult questions:

What if we’ve misunderstood the problem from the start?
What if everything we’ve built so far is based on flawed assumptions?

These questions are hard to face because they challenge the foundation of our work. Instead of addressing them, we often default to safer, familiar behaviors:

Doubling down on iteration, hoping another round of tweaks will finally "fix it."
Chasing the next wave of feedback, focusing on symptoms instead of stepping back to reassess the cause.
Polishing features, masking systemic gaps with surface-level improvements.

The friction we feel—the gap between effort and results—isn’t a sign to push harder. It’s a signal to pause and look deeper.

I first encountered this misalignment during a project where our improvements kept canceling each other out.

Each iteration addressed a symptom, but the underlying issue remained unresolved. The problem wasn’t poor execution. It was our failure to address the real, deeper needs behind the feedback.

The Hidden Patterns

Here are three common patterns that signal you're solving the wrong problem:

When "More" Makes Things Worse

Are added features fragmenting the user experience?
For example, does each new feature create more complexity, making it harder for users to navigate?
Do increased options reduce clarity?
Could simplifying choices make the solution more intuitive and effective?
Is more polish revealing deeper cracks?
For instance, does improving aesthetics highlight underlying issues with functionality or coherence?

💡 Insight: These patterns often indicate you’re addressing symptoms rather than tackling the root cause of the problem.

When "Better" Isn’t Progress

Are improvements creating new edge cases?
For example, does refining one flow introduce unintended complications elsewhere?
Do clearer flows lead to more confusion?
Are attempts to streamline making parts of the experience harder to understand?
Is polish failing to reduce complexity?
Are enhancements only making the system feel heavier instead of more intuitive?

💡 Insight: These signs suggest you might be perfecting the wrong solution instead of addressing the deeper issue.

When Scale Shows Truth

Does what works for some users break for others?
For example, are changes optimized for one segment at the expense of another?
Are quick wins creating long-term debt?
Do short-term fixes compromise your ability to scale effectively later?
Are resources draining faster than progress builds?
Is the effort required for improvement outpacing the benefits you’re seeing?

💡 Insight: This pattern reveals you may be optimizing for the wrong metrics or goals, creating misalignment as your solution grows.

Finding Better Problems

The key isn’t to abandon iteration—it’s to recognize when incremental improvements are masking deeper issues.

When we chase feedback without direction, we risk building elegant solutions to the wrong problems. Here’s how to shift from friction to insight:

Notice the Tension

Friction often points to deeper issues that surface-level changes can’t fix. Look for areas where:

Are simple changes creating unexpected complexity?
For instance, has adding a minor feature led to cascading impacts that disrupt workflows or confuse users?
Do solutions consistently demand more solutions?
Are quick fixes resolving one issue only to introduce new edge cases that require further patches?
Does anything feel unnecessarily complicated?
Are workflows involving multiple steps that seem redundant or overly intricate?

💡 Insight: Tension is a signal, not a barrier. It points you to areas where the underlying problem is waiting to be uncovered.

Question Your Compass

It’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture when focused on iteration. Step back to revisit the foundation of your efforts:

What problem were we originally solving?
For example, were you trying to streamline a process, only to inadvertently create something more complex?
Has our target shifted without us realizing it?
Teams often get swept into solving for recent feedback rather than the core issue.
What assumptions are we carrying forward?
Consider whether decisions from earlier stages are constraining today’s solutions.

💡 Insight: Reassessing your compass ensures you’re still heading in the right direction, not just moving faster in the wrong one.

Reframe the Problem

Sometimes the real breakthrough comes from redefining the problem entirely. Instead of asking, “How can we improve this?” consider:

What if we’re solving the wrong level of the problem?
For instance, are you refining a feature when the larger system needs redesigning?
What would we build if we started fresh today?
Thinking from a clean slate often highlights inefficiencies or unnecessary complexities.
What different problem could unlock simplicity?
For example, addressing a user’s core need might eliminate the need for certain features altogether.

💡 Insight: Reframing helps you see beyond incremental fixes and opens the door to transformative solutions.

Final Thoughts: From Friction to Breakthroughs

True progress doesn’t come from adding more features, perfecting flows, or polishing endlessly. It comes from stepping back, reframing the problem, and building for clarity, simplicity, and coherence.

Breakthroughs aren’t hidden in the next round of tweaks—they’re revealed when you embrace the friction and ask the hard questions it uncovers.

→ This week, challenge yourself and your team to go deeper:

Where are "improvements" creating unnecessary complexity?
What assumptions are keeping us stuck in a cycle of iteration?
Most importantly: What problem are we really solving?

The answers to these questions won’t just transform your product—they’ll redefine how you think, build, and solve problems, unlocking possibilities you hadn’t imagined.

Thanks for reading!—Found value in this? Three ways to help: