Stop Building Features Nobody Asked For

Every product team has been there. You ship a feature you're certain users will love, only to watch it gather digital dust. The problem isn't that your team lacks talent or effort – it's that you're building based on assumptions instead of evidence.

The solution starts with changing how you make decisions. Instead of boardroom brainstorming sessions, get out and talk to actual users. Not focus groups or surveys, but real conversations about real problems. Watch them use your product. Notice where they struggle. Listen to what they're trying to accomplish, not what features they want.

Here's a simple framework to get started: Before building anything new, require evidence of user need. This could be support tickets, user interviews, or behavioral data showing friction. Next, prototype the simplest possible solution. Test it with 5-10 users before writing a single line of production code. Finally, define success metrics before launch, not after.

The best product teams don't guess what users want – they know. And that knowledge comes from proximity to problems, not proximity to opinions.

Research doesn't have to slow you down. In fact, when it's embedded in your process, it speeds everything up. Clarity leads to better decisions, and better decisions lead to better products.