Problem Restatement

The default failure is to solve a problem exactly as first stated, even though the first statement usually encodes a symptom, a presupposed solution, or one stakeholder's view. Problem restatement is a deliberate interrupt before solving: generate several genuinely different formulations of the problem, each by a distinct move (change altitude, separate goal from implementation, shift stakeholder, invert, bound with is/is-not), then choose the most useful one to work on. The output is a problem frame set ending in a single chosen working frame, not a longer list and not prose.

When to Use

• The problem is ambiguous, ill-defined, or stated as a symptom.
• The request names a solution ("build X") but the underlying goal is unstated.
• Solving the wrong problem would be costly; this is upstream of significant work.
• At the start of most reframing, discovery, or strategy workflows.

When NOT to Use

• The problem is already well-defined and validated; reframing a correct, clear problem wastes effort and manufactures doubt.
• For trivial or fully reversible tasks where a wrong frame costs little.
• To generate solutions (use an ideation skill) or to choose among them (use a decision skill); this tool only sharpens the problem.
• As endless reframing that avoids ever committing to solve. Restatement that never selects a working frame is the main failure mode.

Instructions