Quick Frame
- 20-minute prep call with your sponsor
- The one-sentence survey
- A one-page problem frame within 2 business days
$750
Community rate $395
A problem-framing engagement from CoachingUP
Before You Build
Name the right problem before you fund the wrong solution.
Every costly project starts as a cheap sentence, and five people will read it five ways. In one facilitated session, your team agrees on the problem worth solving, puts a number on it, and leaves with a question it can act on.
1 · As handed to usThe problem as it reached you
2 · Who’s hurtingWho feels it, when, and where
3 · Seen vs. saidWhat you’ve watched vs. heard
4 · What it costsPut a number on it
5 · FencesWhat’s in and out
6 · BetsWhat you’re assuming
7 · BetterWhich number moves
One sentence everyone can sign
Why do teams solve the wrong problem?
Because the problem arrives as one fuzzy sentence that means something different to everyone in the room. “We need a new CRM.” “Members won’t engage.” “Our producers hate the quoting tool.” Someone says it, everyone nods, and the money starts moving.
Ask five people what that sentence means and you’ll hear five different problems. Some are facts, some are hunches, and at least one is a solution wearing a problem’s clothes.
Ever watched a team spend six months building a beautiful answer to the wrong question? You measure the doorway before you buy the couch. Before You Build is how your team measures the doorway.
How does Before You Build work?
It runs on questions, not answers. That’s the heart of my book, Enquire to Inspire: the people closest to the work usually know more than they’ve said out loud, and the right question gets it on the table.
Before
A short call with the leader who owns the decision, plus a two-minute survey where each participant writes the problem in one sentence. No peeking at each other’s answers.
During
We open by putting those sentences side by side; the gap between them is usually the first finding. Then we work the Before You Build Canvas, seven questions that pull apart what you’ve seen from what you’ve only heard.
After
You get the problem in writing: a problem statement, a “How might we” question, and the riskiest assumptions to test first.
Which option fits your team?
Pick the depth that fits the size of the decision. All three use the same canvas; the bigger options add prep, people, and follow-through.
The community rate covers startups, nonprofits, university and accelerator programs, and businesses with fewer than 25 employees. Prices are per engagement, not per person. In-person sessions within 90 miles of Madison, Wisconsin, include travel; farther out, travel is billed at cost.
What does your team walk out with?
Something on paper you can slide across the table to whoever owns the budget.
- A problem statement that passes the one-breath test. Short enough to say in one breath, specific about who’s hurting, measurable, and free of hidden solutions.
- A “How might we” question. The problem turned into an invitation: how might we [act] for [someone] so that [something measurable happens]?
- An evidence ledger. What you’ve watched people do, sorted apart from what you’ve only heard them say. (Full Frame and Frame & Test.)
- Your riskiest assumptions, ranked. The bets that sink the project if they’re wrong, each with the cheapest way to test it.
- A decision. Frame & Test ends with a recommendation to build it, change it, or drop it, backed by what your tests found.
The point: you spend the next dollar on the right problem, or you know to keep it in your pocket.
Who is Before You Build for?
Any team about to spend real money on a fuzzy problem. Four groups get the most from it.
Corporate innovation and product teams
You have a project charter, three departments, and four definitions of success. One session gets everyone signing the same sentence before the budget request goes in.
Startup founders and programs
Before you write code or raise money, prove someone will pay to make this problem go away. Accelerators and university programs can book a Full Frame for a cohort of up to five founding teams.
Insurance agencies
Retention, producer onboarding, that shiny new agency-management system: owners make expensive calls with thin staffs. I’ve held a Wisconsin agent’s license since 1995, so I know what a Monday at an agency looks like.
Small businesses and nonprofits
When every dollar is spoken for, a wrong guess costs twice: the money, and the program you didn’t run instead. The community rate exists for you.
What questions will we ask?
Fair warning: I ask a lot of questions. That’s the job. Here are a few your team will wrestle with.
- What would have to be true for this not to be a problem?
- When did this start, and what changed right before it did?
- If we did nothing for a year, what breaks first?
- Is this one problem, or three wearing a trench coat?
- Who would roll their eyes at our problem statement, and why?
- What’s the cheapest way to find out we’re wrong?
Notice what’s missing: nobody asks what to build. That comes later, and it goes faster once the problem stops moving.
Who is Bill Murray?
I’ve coached more than 50 innovation teams (as of 2026) on six continents: startups, corporations, nonprofits, and government agencies. I also spent 13 years leading agile innovation work inside a major insurer, and I’ve mentored 280 entrepreneurs from 37 countries through the YLAI Fellowship.
- Author of Enquire to Inspire: 20 Questions to Mentor Your Innovation Team to Success
- Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and AI for Process Specialist
- Professional Education Instructor, Madison Area Technical College
- Founder of CEWisconsin (2002) and a Wisconsin-licensed insurance agent since 1995
- Speaker at 15+ international conferences on innovation and agile transformation
Results from my innovation work include a student-loan product sprint that saved more than $1 million, a lead-optimization effort that found $3.4 million in lost revenue, and a decision to kill a wrong-platform project that saved $1 million.
Common questions
Do we need a problem picked out already?
A rough one is plenty: “renewals are slipping” works. If you have three candidates, we’ll use the prep call to pick the one that deserves the canvas.
What if we learn we’ve been solving the wrong problem?
Then the session paid for itself. Better to learn it in a conference room than in a post-mortem.
Will you tell us what to build?
No. I’ll ask questions until your team can see it for themselves. A consultant hands you answers; a coach builds the muscle to find them.
Virtual or in person?
The Quick Frame is virtual. The Full Frame and Frame & Test work either way, and in person is livelier for groups over eight.
Why does a 90-minute Quick Frame cost more than the 3-Hour Innovation Plan?
The 3-Hour Plan is coaching: one founder or one small team, working one idea. The Quick Frame is a facilitated session for up to eight people, with a sponsor call before it, everyone’s one-sentence answers sorted ahead of time, and a written problem frame after it. You’re paying for the prep and the write-up as much as the 90 minutes.
Who should be in the room?
The people who feel the problem, the people who would fix it, and the leader who owns the decision, at least for the readout.
What does our team need to prepare?
Answer the one-sentence survey and bring the facts you already have: numbers, complaints, notes from customers. That’s it.
Ready to frame your problem?
Start with a free 15-minute call. We’ll talk through the decision in front of you and which option fits, and you’ll leave with at least one thing you can act on.
Email Bill to book your callBefore you build anything, ask better questions. Enquire to inspire!