Stop asking users what they want

Erik van Eekelen
Sep 6, 2018 · 4 min read

One of the most occurring mistakes in user interviews is asking your users what they want. People are very lousy in telling you what they want. Let me explain by giving an example of a quote from Henry Ford:

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

The quote relates to a time in the wild west where horses were the main source for transportation and the transport of goods to trade. If you asked the people what they wanted, they would say faster horses as that’s their solution for their problems. But it wasn’t faster horses people wanted. It was better cars, which can transport more goods and are a lot faster in doing so.(The quote by Henry Ford has never been confirmed, but it perfectly explains why you should dive deeper to find the root of the problems)


1. Ask why 5 times or more.

By asking people why on the answers they give you. Now this may seem like a childish question (Remember kids who ask why a lot) but it is vital in getting the right answers. Example for someone that is unhappy with his or her job:

Why?
I don’t enjoy the work

Why?
I don’t get to choose what I work on

Why?
I haven’t gotten a promotion

Why?
I haven’t created enough value for my employer

Why?
I don’t have the skill sets that people ahead of me have

First why:
You can see in this example that if you would’ve stopped at the first why (I don’t enjoy the work), you might have tried to somehow make their work more fun.
Solution: a game or perhaps a longer lunch break.

5 x why:
However by asking why multiple times, you find out that they lack the skills required to make a promotion which lets them do the work they love.
Solution: Provide them with learning material to improve their skillsets.

By finding the root of the problem, you can ensure you’re designing the right solution for the problem.

2. Observe user behaviour

Instead of doing an user interview, you can also perform an contextual inquiry. Contextual inquiry is a semi-structured interview method to obtain information about the context of use, where users are first asked a set of standard questions and then observed and questioned while they work in their own environments.

The benefit is doing an contextual inquiry is that you get to see and observe a user working in their own environment. You design different products for people in different environment, as it can chance how they use a product.

What users say they do is different from what they are actually doing.

Example:
In my previous organisation we where asked to create an app for Greenaward, a non profit organisation that inspects inland ships on sustainability and awards them with cheaper docking fees at ports. https://www.greenaward.org/greenaward/.

What they wanted: A more efficient way for inspectors to do audits on ships.
Why they wanted it: To have a green vibe (less paperwork), and faster audits.

While doing user research to get to know the inspectors, the current workflow and the context of use, I did multiple contextual inquiries. I joined one of the inspectors on an audit for a german transport ship moving towards Rotterdam. While following the inspector on board doing the audit I observed some interesting findings.

  1. Observation
    Below deck, especially the engine room, is chaotic and the floor is unstable and missing floor panels. There’s usually constant maintenance on a ship so they leave the panels removed for easier access.
    Solution:
    This makes moving around on the ship harder and the inspectors need both hands free so safely navigate around the ship.The app we designed did not flip the screen and therefore inspectors can store the iPad, pick it up and continue while not being confused of flip screens.
  2. Observation
    The inspectors are required climb down the stairs front faced and with both hands for safety regulations.
    Solution:
    So again, they need to be able to use 2 hands at all time, we made a lock function that leaves the screen on but makes it non respond-able for touch while it’s stored on their belts.
  3. Observation:
    There’s no fixed pattern during the inspection of the ships components. This means that one time the inspectors check the engine first, the other time they starts looking at the docking forms for wast deposal.
    Solution:
    That meant we designed a digital form where they can easily go back and forth between forms to have the freedom once onboard a ship.

As you can see, knowing the context of use will influence the solution you’re designing. There’s no excuse for not knowing your users when designing a product, the experience will always be better.

http://www.usabilitynet.org/tools/contextualinquiry.htm
http://designresearchtechniques.com/casestudies/5-whys/

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