Harvard Business Review Guides Ultimate Boxed Set (16 Books)

Chapter 5

Clarify the Need

You can’t build your team, brainstorm solutions, or crunch the numbers until the business need is crystal clear.

Try thinking of it as a pain point: Plant managers don’t have an effective way to share performance information. The sales force in Europe is losing bids because of a new competitor. Whatever the pain, that’s the source of the need, and your task is to figure out how to alleviate the suffering.

Of course, some projects are driven by opportunities, not by urgent problems. Your company might save 40% in operating costs by switching to a new CRM system, for example, or become eligible for $2 million in tax incentives by updating its wastewater treatment facility by year-end.

You may identify the pain point or ...