Discovery conversations.
WHAT THEY ARE FOR
Understanding how people work and what obstructs them.
WHAT THEY ARE NOT FOR
Asking whether people would use a feature.
WHY THAT QUESTION FAILS
People are polite, and they cannot predict their own behaviour.
WHAT TO ASK ABOUT INSTEAD
What they actually did, recently.
WHAT GOOD QUESTIONS SOUND LIKE
Walk me through the last time you did this What happened then How long did it take What did you do when that failed
WHY PAST BEHAVIOUR
It is evidence; intention is speculation.
WHAT TO AVOID
Leading questions Describing your idea and asking for opinions Asking about hypothetical futures
WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR IDEA
Keep it out of the conversation until you understand the problem.
WHY
Once described, they respond to it rather than telling you their situation.
HOW MANY CONVERSATIONS
Enough that you stop hearing new things.
WHAT THAT USUALLY IS
Fewer than expected; patterns emerge quickly.
WHO TO TALK TO
People who have the problem, including those who chose a competitor and those who left.
WHY THOSE TWO GROUPS
They explain what you are missing.
WHAT TO RECORD
What they said, in their words.
WHY THEIR WORDS
They are the vocabulary your product and marketing should use.
WHAT TO DO AFTERWARDS
Look across conversations for patterns.
WHAT NOT TO DO
Act on a single conversation.
