I have been thinking a lot about my favorite quote from Henry Ford:
If I asked people what they wanted, they would have said 'Faster Horses'. -Henry Ford
The trouble I have been having is that I know how to make something usable, but I am an innovator at heart, I have to be trying something new.
So what is the way to discover what users NEED and not what they just WANT?
If I do a user test the way I do now, I get their reactions, wants, and desires, which are rather predictable 9 times out of 10. But what I am having trouble with is digging out their needs.
Answer
Make sure that you focus on goals.
Don't ask what your users want or need in terms of functionality or form. Find out what they need (or want) to achieve .. that way the parameters you use to define and solve the problem will be much clearer and focused.
Questions to ask your users might run along the lines of;
- what they need to achieve.
- how they currently achieve 'x'
then
- moving on to find out what makes current methods difficult.
Don't carry out user research for solutions - research problems
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