Welcome to the new year. This week, we start with the foundations. You're not building anything just yet. You're validating whether you should.

Before we start, you need to pick your path:

Path 1: Build for yourself - Solve a problem you experience daily in your own work. This is the easier route because you ARE the user. You know the pain point intimately, you can validate instantly, and you'll use what you build.

Path 2: Build for others - Solve a problem someone else experiences. This is harder because you need to deeply understand their workflow, validate with real conversations, and resist the urge to assume you know what they need.

Either path works. But you need to pick one today.

Your goal this week: Pick your problem. That's it.

Next week, we'll cover WHAT TO FEED YOUR AI, AKA how to move from your initial understanding to gathering what you actually need to train your AI to be useful.

But first, validation.

Before you think about AI, answer three questions:

1. What specific problem are you solving?
Not "improve customer service" or "automate workflows." Get specific. What breaks? Where do people get stuck? What takes 3 hours that should take 30 minutes?

Write it in one sentence. If you can't, you don't understand it yet.

2. Who experiences this problem daily?
Name them. Not "users" or "customers." Sarah in accounting. The support team. Your project managers. Real people who can tell you exactly how this problem affects their day.

If you're on Path 1, the answer to question 2 is "me." That's fine. But you still need to name the others who might experience it too.

3. What happens if this never gets solved?
Not hypotheticals. What's already happening? Missed deadlines? Lost revenue? Team burnout? Quantify it if possible.

These three questions are from the Pain Point Scan, your first validation checkpoint.

If you can't answer all three clearly, stop. Do not pass go. Do not research AI tools. Go talk to the people experiencing the problem (or if it's your problem, observe yourself for a day).

Now you need a Good WHY. This isn't motivational, it's structural. A Good WHY has three components:

1. The Observable Problem
What you see happening. The concrete, measurable issue from your Pain Point Scan. No interpretation (yet) just what's actually occurring.

2. The Root Cause
Why it's happening. This requires investigation. Interview the people you named in question 2. Watch them work. Don't assume you know the cause.

If you're on Path 1, this means tracking your own work for a day. Where does the friction actually come from?

3. The Cost
What it's costing in time, money, opportunity, or morale. Be specific. "It costs us" is better than "it could cost us."

Write your WHY in this format:

"We're solving [observable problem] because [root cause] is costing us [specific cost]."

Not good enough? Revise it.

Your WHY should make someone nod and say "yes! That's exactly the problem."

Take your Pain Point Scan and your WHY to three people:

1. Someone who experiences the problem  | Do they agree this is the real issue? Do they care if it gets solved?

2. Someone who would use the solution | Would they actually use it? What would make them not use it?

3. Someone who controls resources | Is this worth solving now? What would need to be true for them to support it?

If you're on Path 1, person #1 might be you. But you still need to validate with #2 and #3.

If any of these conversations reveals misalignment, revise your Pain Point Scan and WHY. This is the validation loop.

According to RAND research, the primary reason AI projects fail is inadequate problem formulation. So you can pat yourself on the back by knowing you're doing the work most teams skip. 💪

By now, you have one of three outcomes:

🚫 STOP: The problem isn't clear, or the people who experience it don't care enough. This is a win. You just saved months of wasted effort.

🧭 PIVOT: The problem is real, but your understanding of the root cause was wrong. Update your WHY and start this process again.

👌 PROCEED: You have a clear problem, validated by real people, with a measurable cost. You're ready for Week 2: What to *feed* your AI.

This becomes your project documentation, the thing you'll reference when scope creeps or when someone suggests adding features.

1. Pick your path: building for yourself or for others?
2. Complete the Pain Point Scan (3 questions)
3. Write your Good WHY (3 components)
4. Have 3 validation conversations
5. Document your decision: STOP, PIVOT, or PROCEED

If you're reading this and thinking "I could use guidance through this process," that's exactly what our AI Strategy and Sprint is designed for. We'll help you complete your validation in 5 structured sessions over 1 week or 1 month.

Let's talk about whether your project is ready to be built, or if you need to take a step back first.

If you're on PROCEED, we'll move from your validated problem to identifying exactly what data, examples, and context you need to train your AI to actually solve it. This is where understanding becomes action.

If you're on STOP or PIVOT, that's progress. Failed validation in one day is infinitely better than a failed project in 6 months.

Questions? Hit reply. We read every response!

Best wishes,
Maaria