Never trust your users (during market research)

July 3, 2012July 5, 2012 Gadi Shamiadesign, focus groups, product management, UX1 Comment

The first time I viewed a professional focus group I was impressed. We sat behind a mirror wall, were served great food and wine and watched business owners answer questions asked by a professional moderator. For a long while, I was in love with the concept: pay some money and get a glance into the future, read your potential users minds and build the perfect product that they will use for ever. If only it was so simple…

Later in life I understood that the most important thing to remember about any user feedback is that people don’t tell you what they think, they tell you what they think they think… Continue reading “Never trust your users (during market research)” →

Don’t drive your designer up the f**king wall

April 3, 2012April 3, 2012 Gadi Shamiadesign, product management, UI, UXLeave a comment

Most designers secretly or publicly hate their managers. It can be a CEO in a startup or a product manager in a larger company. They hate us all. Some of it has to do with the fact some of them are just precious flowers and their work can not be criticized by regular humans but often, it is only our faults.

Here are some dos and don’ts that will make your designer much more productive, and therefore creating better products:

Your “gut feeling” about the design is not important: We all watch baseball matches but don’t think we can play professionally. We all watch hospital dramas but don’t think we can operate on anyone. We all use web products but we DO think we can design them better than the designer we hired. Your design expert is the designer you hired. If he/she are not good enough, replace them. You are unlikely to be better than them. Continue reading “Don’t drive your designer up the f**king wall” →

How come we don’t drive a better horse…

December 6, 2008 Gadi Shamiainnovation, product development, product lifecycle, product management4 Comments

If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a better horse….. Henry Ford

If you are a product manager or product leader- the easiest way to get the job done is speaking with your customers and collect their requests. After all, they are the ones that pay for your salary so just make them happy. Right? Not always.

Henry Ford, the man who invented mass production of cars, summarized his product management philosophy in one sentence, acknowledging that asking customers for product ideas will usually yield ideas for improving the status quo. Continue reading “How come we don’t drive a better horse…” →