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A living collection from the Altringer Eagle Lab at Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering. Problems come from expert input and from what experts publish: research agendas, standards roadmaps, agency reports. The Problem Genome system drafts each write-up, and its sources are checked before it enters the collection. It can make mistakes. It exists to put problem definition at the center of innovation. Problem definitions here can be cited, and so can improvements to them. Teams can reach domain knowledge early and contribute what they learn.

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Genome › Failure mode

Failure mode · gene 14 of 14

aimed at the wrong person

60 problems carry this gene · failure:wrong-stakeholder

The goal was right and the audience was wrong. A device was built for doctors when nurses are the ones who use it. A program was aimed at individuals when the constraint sits with an institution. A product was designed for one setting and handed to another. The work was competent, and the person who could have made it succeed never saw it.

Related genes

solved the wrong problemwrong-problemprior efforts executed well against an objective that was itself wrong · independent readers often disagree on this tag — it passes an extra decision gate before use exists but goes unusedadoption-barriera working solution is available, yet the people who need it won't or can't take it up ignored real-world conditionsignored-contextthe solution assumed conditions, such as power, weather, skills, or institutions, that the real setting doesn't provide people won't changebehavioralthe barrier is human behavior, such as adoption, habits, or compliance, and a solution already exists

How to recognize it

Identify who the intervention was designed for and who controls the outcome. If those two differ, and the real user, buyer, or decision-maker was never the target, this is the gene. If the objective itself was wrong, that's 'solved the wrong problem'.

Our system re-reads samples blind to test genes like this one. Genes it disagrees on are drawn dashed.

60 problems in 11 fields. Filter them, then share the link.

field: the built worldthe helmet stops at the handlebarsbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: the built worldthe app that rides alongbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinenobody thinks they are the vulnerable onebuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: water & energyforever chemicals with no return addressbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinefive million health workers, mostly unpaidthe economics don't workhigh field: society & learninga "borderless" job market that still checks your papersbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinethe hearing aid isn't the bottleneck — everything around it istested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energywhen the lights go out on the loanthe economics don't workmedium field: digital & spaceentitled, but unenrolledbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: food & the living worldthe female farmer the app forgotbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: health & medicinebuilt for the clinic, worn at homebuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinedesigned by those who don't need itbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinefound the disease, lost the patientbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: food & the living worldgreen batteries, dry villagesbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: society & learningevery test assumes one kind of brainbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: society & learningthe labs transfer students never enterbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: society & learningeverything they learned, unlearnedmeasured the wrong thinghigh field: digital & spacedata governance built without askingbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: food & the living worldhigh-yield rice nobody wants to eatbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: society & learningconnected world, disconnected campsthe economics don't workmedium field: society & learningmental health apps with no safety proofbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: society & learningno id, no aidthe rules got in the waymedium field: health & medicineone in ten pills is a liebuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: food & the living worldthe tractor can't talk to the sensorbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: society & learningheat kills farmworkers nobody monitorsbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: society & learningburned for the copper insideit fell between the cracksmedium field: food & the living worldthe kilns changed, the workers didn'tbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: society & learningloans that lifted, then buriedmeasured the wrong thinghigh field: health & medicinetoo far from the nearest hospitalbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinethe count that never leaves the districtbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinethe cardiologist is three counties awayit fell between the crackshigh field: food & the living worldthe forecast speaks celsius, the farmer needs rain datesbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: food & the living worldthe invisible seed marketbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: food & the living worldthe machines exist, the burning continuesbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: water & energythe filter works, a third use itbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: the built worldthree companies tried, three failedbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: the built worldchargers everywhere except where they're neededbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinea thousand studies, nine worth trustingbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinesent home during the deadliest windowbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: health & medicineside effects only some people reportbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: health & medicinedonated, broken, unrepairablebuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinefast results, no plan to use thembuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: food & the living worldcool parks in rich neighborhoodsbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: food & the living worldthe warning system nobody maintainsbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinehospital machines at the kitchen tablethe rules got in the wayhigh field: society & learninglatrines that fifteen percent cannot usebuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinethe test demands what the sickest can't producetested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicinethe robot needs a therapist toobuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: society & learningtherapy designed for a clinic, needed in a campbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: society & learningdigitized aid that disabled refugees can't reachit fell between the crackshigh field: society & learningsixty-five thousand acres burned for dinnerbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicineantivenom waits at hospitals victims can't reachthe economics don't workhigh field: health & medicineoxygen machines that drown in humiditytested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicinethe test said no, the doctor prescribed anywaybuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicineinvisible to the systembuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: society & learningprofessors who know better but lecture anywaybuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: society & learningconnected classrooms, disconnected schoolsbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: society & learningfixing the student instead of the institutionbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: society & learningmindset fixes can't bridge structural gapsbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: society & learningnew skills, old examsmeasured the wrong thinghigh