| Informed | Development team <br/>Other [stakeholders](/handbook/product/product-processes/#what-is-a-stakeholder) as appropriate |
#### Description
To ensure the right solutions are delivered, the team must start their work with a [validated problem](/handbook/product/ux/ux-research/problem-validation-and-methods). This can take [many forms](/handbook/product/ux/ux-research/problem-validation-and-methods/#foundational-research-methods) and be achieved through Product Manager and UX Researcher collaboration.
To ensure the right solutions are delivered, the team must start their work with a [validated problem](/handbook/product/ux/ux-research/problem-validation-and-methods). This can take [many forms](/handbook/product/ux/ux-research/problem-validation-and-methods/#foundational-research-methods) and be achieved through Product Manager, Product Designer and UX Researcher collaboration.
If the problem is documented and well-understood, it may be possible to quickly move through this phase by documenting the known data about the user problem. A documented problem can be categorized as a pre-existing experience from feedback directly from users or an issue that has user engagement confirming that the problem is experienced by multiple users. A well-understood problem can be one that has a series of documented qualitative research from customer interviews led by the Product Manager, triangulating [different sensing mechanisms](/handbook/product/product-processes/#sensing-mechanisms) confirming the problem, or using known data. Some examples of known data include [Customer Request Issues](https://10az.online.tableau.com/#/site/gitlab/workbooks/2015827/views) or pre-existing [`Actionable Insights`](/handbook/product/ux/ux-research/research-insights/#how-to-document-actionable-insights) from prior research. To document that a problem is well-understood, link the known data and any customer calls to the relevant issues and epics.
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ If the problem is nuanced or not yet well understood, then it will likely take l
| Outcomes | Activities | DRI |
|----------|------------|-----|
| <iclass="fab fa-gitlab fa-fw"style="color:rgb(252,109,38); font-size:1.25em"aria-hidden="true"></i>**Thorough understanding of the problem**: The team understands the problem, who it affects, when and why, and how solving the problem maps to business needs and product strategy. | - Create an issue using the [Problem Validation Template](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/.gitlab/issue_templates/Problem%20Validation.md) in the GitLab project. <br/>- Complete an [Opportunity Canvas](/handbook/product/product-processes/#opportunity-canvas). <br/>- Schedule a review of the opportunity canvas for feedback. <br/>- Create an issue using the [Problem Validation Research Template](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ux-research/-/blob/master/.gitlab/issue_templates/Problem%20validation.md) in the UX Research project and work with UX Researcher to execute the research study. <br/>- Validate your problem with users using any of the [proposed methods](/handbook/product/ux/ux-research/problem-validation-and-methods/) and [document your findings in Dovetail](/handbook/product/ux/dovetail/). | Product Manager |
| <iclass="fab fa-gitlab fa-fw"style="color:rgb(252,109,38); font-size:1.25em"aria-hidden="true"></i>**Update issue/epic description**: A well understood and clearly articulated customer problem is added to the issue, and will lead to successful and efficient design and development phases. | - Ensure your issue is up-to-date with the latest understanding of the problem. <br/>- Understand and document (in the issue) the goals that people want to accomplish using the [Jobs to be Done (JTBD)](/handbook/product/ux/jobs-to-be-done/) framework. <br/>- Conduct [continuous interviews](/handbook/product/product-processes/continuous-interviewing/) with customers on a regular cadence to stay up-to-date on the problems that users face. <br/>- Leverage your [opportunity canvas](/handbook/product/product-processes/#opportunity-canvas) to communicate the problem to your stable counterparts and group stakeholders. Consider scheduling a review to gather feedback and communicate the findings to Product and UX leadership. | Product Manager |
| <iclass="fab fa-gitlab fa-fw"style="color:rgb(252,109,38); font-size:1.25em"aria-hidden="true"></i>**Update issue/epic description**: A well understood and clearly articulated customer problem is added to the issue, and will lead to successful and efficient design and development phases. | - Ensure your issue is up-to-date with the latest understanding of the problem. <br/>- Understand and document (in the issue) the goals that people want to accomplish using the [Jobs to be Done (JTBD)](/handbook/product/ux/jobs-to-be-done/) framework. <br/>- Conduct [continuous interviews](/handbook/product/product-processes/continuous-interviewing/) with customers on a regular cadence to stay up-to-date on the problems that users face. <br/>- Leverage your [opportunity canvas](/handbook/product/product-processes/#opportunity-canvas) to communicate the problem to your stable counterparts and group stakeholders. Consider scheduling a review to gather feedback and communicate the findings to Product and UX leadership.<br/>- Confirm that the Product Designer understands the problem well enough to ideate on solutions. | Product Manager |
| Initiate the Dogfooding Process: When validating problems, it's important to gather feedback from [internal customers](/handbook/product/product-processes/#internal-customer-dris), in addition to the broader community. Capturing internal customer feedback early on in the product development flow helps ensure their needs are considered as the feature matures, accelerating key [Dogfooding](/handbook/product/product-processes/#dogfood-everything) outcomes. Driving internal usage of features consistently [leads to greater customer adoption](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2020/04/16/geo-is-available-on-staging-for-gitlab-com/) and is required for [viable maturity](https://about.gitlab.com/direction/maturity/). | - PMs are strongly encouraged to open [Dogfooding issues](/handbook/product/product-processes/#dogfooding-process) during the validation phase and capture internal customer feedback to help inform initial and/or future iterations of a feature. | Product Manager |
