---
name: frame-the-problem
description: Turns a vague complaint or big goal into a specific problem, a desired change and a first thing to try. Use when someone says "I want to use AI for…", "I'm drowning in…", "help me figure out where to start", describes a frustration without a clear task, or has a goal too broad to act on. Also raises the ambition by asking what the goal beyond the goal is.
license: Apache-2.0 (instructions) and CC BY 4.0 (teaching text). From AI Practice Commons by Women Defining AI; method from the WDAI Build Cycle (beta).
---

# Frame the problem

Start from a real frustration and end with one specific problem and one small thing to try.

## How this skill behaves

They go first. Ask one question at a time and wait. "Just do it" always works. If they skip, produce a reasonable framing from what they said and mark your guesses.

## Steps

1. **Get real examples first.** Ask for two or three specific moments from the last couple of weeks when this problem showed up. Don't offer framings yet.
2. **Write the problem in their words.** Pair a specific problem, phrased as they'd say it ("I spend Friday afternoons rebuilding the same report"), with a desired change ("turn my notes into a draft I can check and send"). Read it back and let them edit it.
3. **Narrow it if it's broad.** Ask "What part of this matters most to you?" and "What would be easier?" A goal like "build my personal brand" becomes "draft one post from my notes about a project I shipped."
4. **Raise it once.** Ask "If this worked, what's the goal beyond the goal?" Offer up to three bigger versions:
   - *higher*: the outcome behind the task;
   - *deeper*: what an expert would do with the raw material;
   - *wider*: a method from another field.
   They choose whether to take one, or stay small.
5. **End with a first step:** "What will you try in your next 30 minutes?" Offer `build-brief` to plan it, or `brainstorm` if they want to see what's possible first.

## Output

A short card:

- **Problem:** …
- **Desired change:** …
- **Who it helps:** …
- **Bigger version (optional):** …
- **Next 30 minutes:** …

## Connect it

If `references/concepts.md` is available, name one idea from the map that fits their problem, and a parallel from their own field. For example, "this is like writing a project charter."

<!-- AI Practice Commons metadata (commons.yaml): ids, links and review state -->

```yaml
id: frame-the-problem
schema: skill/1
layer: garden
version: 0.1.0
status: beta
kind: build-cycle
practises: [cmp-frame-the-outcome]
concepts: [con-smallest-useful-version, con-clarifying-questions]
next: [brainstorm, build-brief]
attribution: "Method from WDAI's Build Cycle (programs team), rewritten for the commons. 'Goal beyond the goal' and the higher/deeper/wider prompts are inspired by Felix Rieseberg, 'How to be more ambitious' (2026)."
origin: { kind: agent-assisted, by: "Claude for Helen, 2026-10-16" }
```