Module 2: Understanding the Problem Space

Discovery synthesis through problem framing. No solutions allowed yet. That’s the point.

Why and when

Most product failures are expensive solutions to the wrong problem. This module builds the evidence habit: understanding the market, the segments, and the jobs to be done before anyone proposes a feature. You’ll reach for these moves at quarterly planning, when entering a new market or segment, when you inherit someone else’s backlog, and every time a stakeholder hands you a solution dressed up as a requirement.

What you’ll cover

• turning raw research into evidence
• lightweight market and landscape scans (web search earns its narrative moment here)
• defining segments and personas
• pains, gains, and jobs-to-be-done
• a problem framing canvas before any solutioning

The narrative beat

This is where you meet the practice company’s HiPPO and their bloated, certain, plausible-sounding demand. You won’t build it. Learning why, and what to do instead, is the work of Modules 3 and 4.

Where the learning happens

Not on this page. This site is your map; the classroom is Claude Desktop. Open a Cowork session pointed at the course-materials folder and say: “Take me to Module 2.”

If you’re lost mid-module, paste this into that session, even a brand-new one:

I'm taking the Claude Desktop for Product Managers course and I'm lost
somewhere in Module 2 (Understanding the problem space). Read COMPANION_INSTRUCTIONS.md
and my-progress.md in this folder, tell me where I am, and offer me
three ways forward.