By Janina
I stopped trying to learn things from books 🙂↔️
But: When it comes to my favorite topic as a product person - user research & discovery - there are some pitfalls & best practices that I picked up from books years ago that I still remind myself of today:
El numero 1️⃣
Pitfall: You stop thinking about problems as soon as you start building solutions.
Better: Work on understanding problem & solution in parallel - bit by bit.
(I believe that any solution - a mockup or even a real feature - is hardly more than an attempt to learn more about the problem.)
Numero 2️⃣
Pitfall: You see user research as a once-in-a-while burden.
Better: Build a habit of talking to users frequently and regularly.
(Like avoiding the dentist for months, then booking an emergency appointment when you're in pain and now it's root canal time.)
Numero 3️⃣
Pitfall: You head straight into „asking some questions“.
Better: Prepare, conduct, document, analyze your interviews wisely
(What I noticed: There‘s a difference between understanding your users vs. believing everything they tell you.)
Numero 4️⃣
Pitfall: You exclude "non-product" people from user research activities.
Better: Get engineers involved in talking to users. And in service businesses - bring in your customers.
(I, for one, am not a good idea machine, but I know how to filter and nurture the right ideas from everyone else.)
So, I guess the bad news is: User research is harder than it seems...Good news: With some practice, anyone can get good at it! 🙂↕️😎