Find and Solve Problems Without Being Asked to Do So

If you want to scale your importance at work and become involved in those critical A+ projects, you make it happen in two ways:

1. Deliver exceptional work on the projects assigned to you, and hope the next one is more important
2. Take the initiative to find the important problems before others do and solve them without being asked.

The latter is the faster and higher ROI route to take.

Solving problems without being told to do so is a valuable skill.

When you take the initiative to find critical problems to solve and create solutions, you develop ownership of the solution. This helps you grow in your role and make a name for yourself in your organization.

Search for side projects that solve problems beyond the typical scope you contribute to. Don’t let these projects shift your focus away from your assigned tasks. Do them during downtime between your day-to-day work.

I’ve done this a handful of times over the last year. It has involved me in larger-scale projects, exposed skills others didn’t know I had, and opened up opportunities for higher-level work.

Real Examples From My Current Job

I’ll keep my explanations vague for privacy reasons. But I will give enough to help you understand my thought process on identifying the problems and building POCs so you can learn how to do the same in your role.

1. Report Automation

Last June, I sat in a meeting with a stakeholder my team often collaborates with.

While discussing who knows what, the stakeholder showed us how she used a report we built years ago. The report ran a simple SQL query and dumped the data into an Excel file. There were no transformations. Simply raw data.

The stakeholder used that report to build a new one. She aggregated and pivoted the data to create her desired format. Repeating this for multiple customers meant wasting over 50 hours per month.

As I sat watching, I realized I could automate the process by aggregating the data in SQL and enhancing how we format our report. During free time over the next week, I developed a POC and then presented it to the stakeholder.

She loved it because it would allow her to focus on analyzing the data rather than transforming it.

The project became bigger than expected. I spent the next few months building a new data model and automating 20+ reports. This was one of my most significant and most impressive projects of the year.

My favorite part is that it’s something I initiated on my own.

I made this possible by learning how people used the solutions we built for them and searching for ways to make our solutions more efficient.

2. Data Backfill Project

I wrote about this a few days ago. Read the post here for an in-depth explanation.

The short rundown is this…

I helped our software development team build a feature in our internal system that allowed the stakeholder team to better manage their data.

However, after shipping the feature, the stakeholders never used it.

Why? There was no data backfilled into the system, rendering the tool useless.

My team initially wanted to backfill the data, but since it was stored in 900+ PDF documents, we assumed it was impossible.

But I saw an opportunity.

I had recently spent time outside of work honing my Python skills, so I felt more comfortable and confident with my abilities. I had the idea to build a tool that leveraged AI to extract data from the PDFs and load it into our database.

I spent time working with the OpenAI API to scrape the data in bulk. My simple POC worked, so I presented it to the development and stakeholder teams. They loved it, so I moved forward with my development.

My idea, while not perfect, saved a lot of time that would have required a temp or intern to do manually. It also gave the stakeholder team a kickstart to finally derive value from the feature.

I played a key role in the initial development of the application feature, so I understood how the business process operated. This enabled me to identify the pain points users encountered.

Without understanding the business side of the process, I would have never started a side project to solve the problem.

3. Application Feature I Conceptualized

My final example concerns an application feature I suggested we build.

Within our internal system, we have a tool that allows users to set alerts that send automated emails once a certain product metric exceeds a specified value.

Users created alerts on the product pages but could not see a comprehensive list of all the alerts they set. Most users set alerts for 50+ items, so it was difficult for them to track.

My team already had a report in our reporting portal that listed all user alerts, but there were two problems. One was that the reporting portal was separate from our application, making it cumbersome for users to switch between the two. The second problem was that not all users had access to the reporting portal, so they couldn’t view the report even if they wanted to.

I came up with the idea of embedding the report into our application so everyone could easily access it.

I conceptualized this idea while on a call with a user. While helping him solve an issue related to the alert feature, he asked me if there was a way for him to see all the alerts he had set. At the time, he tracked his alerts in an Excel file but wanted an easier way to do it.

Talking to users can be very beneficial. You can identify what they struggle with and what new tools or solutions would help them work better.

Sadly, this project wasn’t an initial success.

After we shipped the feature, almost no one used it because they didn’t know it existed. It’s unfortunate, but this happens. Not every project delivers value right away. Some do, but not all.

Lucky for me, we now have a new development project that will revive my solution and make it useful.

So, even though the project didn’t succeed last year, it has the potential to succeed now.

Key Points

When you take initiative to start side projects that solve problems others didn’t know existed, the most challenging part is finding worthwhile projects.

No formula guarantees you will find important problems to solve.

However, there are some habits and actions you can take to increase your odds.

They are:

1. Learn how your company operates so you can spot flaws in different operations and processes.
2. Learn how users use your current solutions to identify opportunities for enhancement.
3. Talk to users to learn about their pain points to spot solutions that would make their lives easier.

Initiating side projects is a great way to prove your value and make your name and skills known.

You shouldn’t fear creating side projects and starting them without permission.

Two things can happen. Your stakeholders love your idea and allow you to continue development. Or they’ll shut down your idea, and you move on to the next one.

So long as your side projects don’t get in the way of your assigned work, there’s no downside. Only an upside.