Stop trying to solve abstract problems

It should've been called "Create a clear problem statement before you create a product to solve that problem," because the situation they're describing has little to do with abstract problems and more to do with not defining the concrete problem in the first place.

There are plenty of situations where abstract problems exist that require thought rather than iteration. You only need to look at risk analysis and planning to see an example close at hand. Further afield you've got tonnes of examples in math and physics, and even further back the whole field of philosophy began because of abstract problems. These things don't have a concrete product as their goal though, which is a situation that this article describes.