Here is this week’s Pip’s Practical Prompts brought to you by Tom Kerwin, author of the upcoming Pip Deck: Research Tactics.
Design
A secret of UX design is this quote:
“Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.”
— Neil Gaiman
There are two hard things [when it comes to UX research]:
1) Are you excited to feel the discomfort of finding out what people think is wrong? (Or are you really asking for feedback to get some encouragement – a pat on the back?)
2) When people tell you how they think you should fix it, can you do the translation work to understand the real problem behind what they're saying? The thing behind the thing! (Or are you really hoping someone will just give you the answers?)
Strategy
“The Best” Myth.
Product companies often plan to win by having “the best product in the market”
Think of the business products your company pays for. Are any of them clearly The Best? What does “best” even mean for B2B products?
You might have products you think are the best, but does everyone agree? Are they really “best for me”?
A quick survey of what I use surfaced two types of business product:
1) Best for me (given my context, my tech ecosystem, my set of needs and foibles, my budget, my willingness to tinker, etc.)
2) Best because it’s the only one in its category (it invented the category)
For most people, most of the time, the decision to buy isn’t about “the best” – it’s a series of trade-offs that have a lot more to do with their life and context than the product.
This is hard for most orgs to see.
Maybe just the advantage you need to beat the competition?
Strategy
Strategy is iterative.
1) We try things
2) At first, they mostly don't work
3) Repeat
4) As we learn, we change what we try: we do fewer things that don't work and more things that do
5) We develop a “gut feel” for what tends to work.
If you enjoyed that, don't forget to sign up to the Beta waiting list for Tom’s Pip Deck coming later this year: Research Tactics.
P.S. Here’s how you can support Ukraine 🇺🇦.
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