Defining ill-defined problems

Are you a designer and need to solve a problem which was not clearly defined ? here's a simple list of steps and questions that might help:

You will probably have a first encounter with the person who is sponsoring the project. Benefit as much as you can from this encounter to start to gain an idea where you are getting yourself into.

Interview your sponsor:

1. Who is actually demanding this solution in the business? (ex: hr department, devs, marketing etc.)
2. What are you trying to achieve?
3. Are all people involved in the demand aligned with what the outcome should be? What are their personal objectives?
4. What would be the best outcome?
5. What would be the worst outcome?
6. What do you know about your users?
7. How is the problem being solved currently?
8. How will you know/measure when the problem is solved?

This will give you an overview and help understand your sponsor's point of view in all of this. If you think about this as a treasure hunt, this will be like the beginning of your map.