Using-it

Designing a product, depends on you seeing people use it.

So this is a lesson that software developers learn fairly soon after starting their careers – ideally in the first week. When you actually see people use your product, you realise just how NARROW your view of how it should be used actually is – because you have AN idea of how something should be used; your user will come up with something that will make your hair stand on end.

This is a key lesson of product design, especially when building an MVP because notionally founders know that MVP is about experimentation, but that experiment needs to be radically observed by you, the person that ultimately has to sign off on it. It’s not enough to collect some email feedback, or do something more structured like a questionnaire or quiz.

The gold standard is the room with the two-way mirror, but no one has those these days. If you want to do something quick and low rent in the modern era, just have them use the product whilst you observe their screen over Zoom or Teams.

28/Oct/2023