---
title: The problem space
summary: Five domains that pull against each other. The tension between them is where product problems come from.
type: concept
order: 1
loop_stage: all
domains: [people, business, technology, economics, governance]
status: working
version: 0.1
updated: 2026-10-25
sources: [The Problem Space (2014), Trust Architects article (2018), Where it Began (2024-02-17), World Vision Mural boards (2024)]
confidence: stated
related: [the-loops, well-informed-space]
---

The problem space is the actual people, the actual business and the actual technology a product lives between, plus two lenses most designers never get taught: economics and governance. Each domain pulls on the others. That tension is what causes the problems a product team has to solve, and it is where design opportunities are found.

## The five domains

| Domain | What it pulls for | Typical owner |
| --- | --- | --- |
| People | Their wants and needs, pulled onto the technology | Content and design |
| Business | An inflow of money: the customer has to pay as a buyer | Product |
| Technology | Resources to build and run it | Engineering |
| Economics | How value and money move through the whole system | Product and finance |
| Governance | Who or what may decide and act, and how you'd know | Leadership, security, policy |

The first three are the "three-legged stool" product managers talk about: institutional rules and objectives, technical feasibility, and human wants and needs. Each leg is under tension, and the seat they hold up is strategy. Economics and governance came in with the 2018 *Trust Architects* article, which argued for balancing five disciplines "into a lens through which we view the problem space and then frame design opportunities."

## Why it matters with agents in the work

Most design harnesses today encode two domains: people (the users) and technology (the design system). The other three are left to whoever happens to be in the room.

**In the harness** (working proposal): a problem-space file holds a model of each domain, with its demands, constraints and owners. Proposals get checked against all five. Who pays? What does it cost to build and run? Who is allowed to decide?

## Open questions

- The 2024 wording defines the business leg as "institutional rules and objectives", which overlaps governance. Each domain needs a crisper definition.
- How the five domains map to roles changes from context to context. A design sprint for a nonprofit website weights them differently from a long-running SaaS product.