It is imperative that a clear statement of the problem to be solved is available. In real life, this is a moving target. In the academic situation, we can do better. The problem definition is written in the user's language and using the user's point of view. It does not define the problem with reference to possible solutions. If the problem statement changes drastically, then there it is probably a new problem and you start from scratch. In class, we will deal with the problem definition together.