User Research

You are not your user.  You are not your user. No that is not a typo.  I typed that twice on purpose. We do user research because we are trying to identify and address our own biases and misconceptions, which could otherwise be detrimental to the success of the product in terms of sales and or adoption and use.  We want to make sure that we are actually solving a real problem in people’s lives.

“We tend to project our own rationalizations and beliefs onto the
actions and beliefs of others.”

-The Psychology of Everyday Things

As a product owner we want to be sure we’re solving actual problems and not what
we think the market might need.  So why user research? It helps us understand
some of the following things:

• User insights: What problems, needs, and motivations do users have?
• Prioritization: How important are these problems?
• Usability: Do people understand my product?  Can people use my product?

The Process

User research generally involves the following steps:

1. Objectives: What are we trying to learn about our users?
2. Hypotheses: What are our assumptions?
3. Methods: How are we tactfully going to learn about users?
1. a. I.e. user interviews, focus groups, surveys
4. Research: Gather information from our users.
5. Synthesis: Understand and generate insights from the information gathered.

You don’t want to do the “mom test”, i.e. ask someone if it is a good idea you have that solves a problem if they are close to you, biased, or have a stake in you.  Asking leading questions won’t actually give you the result you’re looking for and you won’t be able to tell if you are actually solving a problem or not that has value in the marketplace in terms of solving a real problem that gets used and of course brings in revenue for the business owner(s).

A bad example would be as follows.

User research is important to creating worthwhile products and features for products that will actually solve the needs of your current and future customers.  Neglecting these steps will result in low to no sales to begin with, blown budgets, frustration at lack of user engagement, and repeat or upsale purchases. So neglect them at your own risk!