# Talk to the person who has the problem
Understanding · practice · https://build-here.africa/book/chapters/04-01-talk-to-the-person-who-has-the-problem.html

## The starting point

You have summaries, numbers, requests. One detail of how the thing is used is still unclear, and it is the one your decision depends on.

## The move

Talk to someone who lives the problem. Not the person who passed it on to you.

## Why it works

A summary selects. It can be faithful and still leave out the detail your question needs. A person explains that she finishes every operation in a spreadsheet after using the product. No report mentioned it. That spreadsheet is the part the product does not cover, which makes it your next decision.

The workaround is often the best information you will get: the person has already built the solution they needed, with whatever was at hand.

An AI can summarise a thousand customer reviews in a minute. It will not show you the spreadsheet. Numbers tell you how many, the conversation tells you how. You need both, and the conversation is the one that gets skipped.

No customers, no company? Talk to someone your project sets out to help. One recent situation is enough to learn to separate what you saw from what you assume.

## Try this

Ask someone affected for twenty minutes. If you do not know who, customer relations knows which customers are happy to talk. Open with:

> "Can you tell me about the last time you tried to do that?"

Have them show you, if they are willing. Do not promise a feature during the conversation.

Write down the fact you observed and the assumption it changes. At the next decision, see whether it changed an option.

If someone stands between you and that person, give them one question, and ask them to bring back the answer word for word. Or sit in on one support call.

## To discuss

Which decision are we making right now without having talked to someone who lives the problem?