Jack's One Law For Everything

I was reading and commenting on a post about yet another instance of identity "theft", when I decided to crystallize a principle that seems rather obvious to me, but deserves to be treated as a "law".  I call it Jack's One Law For Everything:  Without a rock-solid problem statement, there can be no joy.

 

Almost every time I see a problem, it usually has arisen because somebody had a misconception about the nature of some other problem that they thought they were solving.  Problems tend to cascade, unless you have a sufficient handle on the problem to truly stop it in its tracks.

 

Get the problem statement "right", and you stand a much better chance of achieving a durable success with far fewer unintended consequences.

 

Rock-solid problem statements are essential for technology ventures, especially those intended to be platforms or bases upon which other technologies are to be built.

 

-- Jack Krupansky