Everyone's using AI now. Asking it questions, getting answers, and wondering why half of those answers feel vague, generic, or just slightly off.
Here's the problem: most people are feeding their AI symptoms, not problems.
"My kid is struggling in school." "My project keeps failing." "I don't know why this keeps happening."
Those aren't problems. Those are complaints. And when you hand a complaint to an AI, you get a complaint-shaped answer — broad, surface-level, and not particularly useful.
The quality of your output is determined by the quality of your input
This isn't a new idea. Engineers, quality professionals, and scientists have known it for decades. You cannot solve a problem you haven't defined. And you cannot define a problem you haven't diagnosed.
The SOLVED method exists for exactly this reason — to walk you through the structured work of turning a frustration into a problem statement. What happened, specifically? What did you expect to happen? What's the gap between those two things? Where does it occur and where doesn't it?
Once you've done that work, something shifts. You don't have a complaint anymore. You have a problem — a real one, with edges and boundaries and a direction to look.
That's when AI becomes genuinely useful.
What changes when you prompt a defined problem
Compare these two prompts:
"My son keeps getting bad grades. What should I do?"
versus
"My 12-year-old is consistently scoring below 70% on math tests, specifically on word problems. He understands the concepts when I explain them verbally but loses the thread when reading independently. What are structured approaches for bridging that gap?"
Same kid. Same problem. Completely different starting point.
The second prompt gets you specific, actionable, targeted responses. Not because the AI got smarter — because you got more specific. You did the diagnostic work first, and the AI had something real to work with.
That's the difference between using AI as a search engine with better grammar and using it as an actual thinking partner.
Where Jarvis fits in
Jarvis — the local AI assistant I built and documented in Hey Jarvis — isn't just a chatbot. It's a reasoning tool. But like any tool, it's only as good as what you bring to it.
After you've worked through the SOLVED method and defined the problem clearly, Jarvis can help with the next phase: discovery and brainstorming. Exploring possible causes. Generating solution options. Stress-testing ideas before you commit to them. That's a legitimate and powerful use of AI — but it only works when the problem is defined well enough to point the conversation in the right direction.
Shoot symptoms at it and you'll get guesses. Bring it a real problem statement and you get a thinking partner.
Try it
Next time something isn't working — for your kid, for a project, for anything — resist the urge to open AI first. Do the diagnostic work. Write down what happened, what you expected, and what the gap is. Get specific.
Then bring that to your AI of choice and see what changes.
If you want a one-page tool to guide that first step, the SOLVED Problem Statement Worksheet is free at solved360.com. Enter your email and it's in your inbox immediately.
👉 Get the free worksheet at solved360.com