Playing the Blame Game with Your Users
March 14, 2017 by Paul Lopushinsky
It’s easy to point the finger at your users instead of yourself, and that’s a dangerous game to play.
I have recently written about how there’s a big difference between what users say and what they mean. You have to distinguish what that difference is to build the best possible product for your customers.
As a result, it’s easy to blame your users for not knowing what they want, or why they can’t figure out your product.
That’s not true. It’s you, not them. It’s up to you to put the pieces together.
I came across this excellent post in regards to blaming your users.
Stop Blaming the User — Melissa Perri
In this post, Melissa talks about her experiences with United Airlines. We’ve all had our fair share of “quality” experiences with airlines. She then uses this as a launching pad for her thoughts on blaming the user.
The moral of my story is this: I see product teams committing this classic mistake all the time. Product Managers love to blame the user. If the user doesn’t understand something, they are just stupid. If the user won’t tell us what they want, they are difficult. If they are calling to complain, they are ungrateful.
This is a dangerous mindset, yet it’s so prevalent. “Users don’t know what they want,” is the battle cry of Product Managers all over the world. It’s their excuse not to talk to them, because what could a user tell them that they don’t already know?
I’m sure we’ve all had these thoughts before. I know I have in my moments in frustration wondering why users couldn’t spell out to us what they were really looking for. For even more fun, go talk to some developers and get their insight on users. Just be sure not to get their insight back to your users.
Users become just a thorn in your side, and if they went away and took all their complaints and wishy-washy answers to your questions with them, you could build THE BEST PRODUCT IN THE WORLD! You forget that if users went away, you would be out of business.
Wishy-washy answers. I love it! Well, not getting wishy-washy answers, but it’s not your users job to give you full, concise answers of what they’re actually looking for. You have to find that out, and it’s not going to be placed before you with all the pieces fitting nicely. You have to figure where the pieces go.
To continue from the post:
It is not the user’s job to know what they want.
It‘s their job to know what problems they have. You need to understand how to question them about their context, problems, and needs. If you cannot do this well, you will end up getting frustrated with the user.
And there it is…it’s not up to the user to know what they want, but it’s up to them to know the problems they have.
Let that sink in for a bit.
By taking a step into their shoes, and getting an understanding of the problems that they’re having, you’re more likely to figure out what they really want, and build products that address these problems.
I know the pieces fit ’cause I watched them tumble down
No fault, none to blame, it doesn’t mean I don’t desire to
Point the finger, blame the other, watch the temple topple over.
To bring the pieces back together, rediscover communicationTool — Schism
So, how do you stop blaming the user?
- Realize that you’re blaming the user. Maybe it’s just you, or maybe it’s your team or company, and it’s a hard habit to break. Admitting that you do this will get you on the right path. Doing this one step alone will put you ahead of many companies.
- Stop blaming the user! Ok, easy enough, but how can you do this? Catch yourself when you start to blame the user. It’s not going to happen overnight, but overtime, you can start to pull yourself away from those old habits.
- Go talk to and observe your users. Get an understanding of where they are coming from. Don’t judge. Just go observe and talk with them. If they’re saying your product sucks or is hard to use, don’t start defending yourself right away. Listen.
- Walk a mile in their shoes. One easy way to do this is to think about a product that you use on a frequent basis. Could you really articulate in how you would like to improve the product? Or would you be just like your users, and realize that you have a hard time conveying what you actually want out of a product?
As mentioned, it’s easy to push the blame to the user on a lot of fronts.
Like the post from Melissa, United Airlines shifted the blame to her, it was her fault. How often do you do that with your users, whether you tell them outright or let them figure that out for themselves?
To end this post, I’m going to post an image that you’re very likely to be familiar with, and for good reason.
Originally published at www.pmpaul.com on March 14, 2017.
