No data, no problem
There are countless problems in the world, and you probably run across dozens of them everyday.
But you can't solve everything. You'll have to pick some things to fix first, plan to handle some later, and leave the rest for "maybe someday."
So how can you tell if a problem actually merits your action, or even your attention?
Awareness: First, you must be aware of it. That seems obvious, but I'll touch on that later.
Definition: Next you must be able to define it. What exactly is the pain you're trying to solve? (Not the cause of it, just the pain point.)
Severity: Finally, you need to know how serious it is, so you can assign it a priority.
Say, for example, some members are having trouble registering for events.
Awareness: If they're having trouble, how likely are you to find out about it?
Definition: What problem are they actually experiencing? Are they not finding the event registration page? Do they not understand some questions on the registration form? Are they seeing some error in the registration process?
Severity: How serious is this? How many users are having this particular problem? How often? And more importantly, how much does this impact your mission or your goals?
Without these three things, you don't really have a problem you can solve.
It may exist in theory. It may even exist in someone's experience.
But it doesn't exist in a way that you can respond to it.
And if you can't respond to it, it is literally not worth thinking about.
Although, if you are thinking about it, it might be worth gathering the information that would actually make it into something you could act on.
All the best,
A.