This was widely influenced by the Circles Method Product Design Framework. First off, I’d like to mention the main things to look for in an applicant during an interview. I find that it gives a really good summary of what makes a good product designer and what to focus on, even when you are on the job.
Based on the current setup we have at Hack4Impact, your PM will have have a problem statement along with a bunch of details/context from their initial call with the client. Obviously, if you are part of the team beforehand, participating in those discussions would be immensely helpful.
Anyways, your PM will not always have the correct problem statement and it is your job to also think through the problem, ask clarifying questions, and provide feedback in this stage to validate/improve the understanding and alignment of the problem between Client/PM/team/you. Ask yourself, "Why is this particular problem worth solving?"
An example here would be a nonprofit we worked with named Child’s play. They explained that they wanted to convert their video game brochure to due to the problem that it cost $ and was hard to update. An initial assumption we had was that the brochure was used by children or adults to pick out games based on their symptom. However, after clarifying the context of how child’s play would use the app in the hospital, we found out more about the limitations in internet connection, how successful the video game brochure was, asking who actually would use this app (adults) and how video games were checked out to kids, etc. This does go into Identifying the user as well
Some questions to think about: