The starting point
You have summaries, numbers or requests, but an important detail of the use is still unclear. A conversation with someone affected could inform the decision.
The move
Propose a short conversation about a situation they lived through. If direct contact is not possible, work with whoever owns the relationship to find a shareable example or an accompanied observation.
Why it works
A summary selects information to make it usable. It can be faithful and useful while leaving out a detail your question needs. Going back to a concrete case completes the team’s knowledge without devaluing the people who gathered it. A person explains that she finishes an operation in a spreadsheet after using the product. Watching that step, with her agreement, lets you understand the result she is after and the part the product does not cover. The workaround may be a sensible adaptation, not necessarily an error to remove.
Being close by sometimes helps arrange a meeting, but it guarantees neither availability nor the right to reach the data. Prepare a precise question, respect a refusal, and avoid turning a request for help into an interview someone did not choose.
One conversation informs one case; it does not represent every use. Cross it with other situations and the data you have before generalising. A dashboard and a conversation can complete each other: one gives you a frequency, the other helps you understand a sequence.
To start with no customer and no company, talk to a person your personal or community project sets out to help. One recent situation is enough to learn to separate what you observed from what you assume.
Try this
Ask for agreement for a bounded conversation and explain its purpose. Open with:
“Can you tell me about the last time you tried to do that?”
A demonstration is possible if the person wants it and can avoid sensitive information. Do not promise a feature during the conversation.
Note the fact observed, the assumption it changes, and what is still to be checked. At the next decision, look at whether that conversation changed an option or confirmed what you already knew.
From where you sit
- Design: ask for a recent case and let the person explain their route through it.
- Customer relations: help arrange a contact that was accepted and fits the relationship.
- Management: plan the time and the access needed, or a useful alternative.
- Recruiting: accept an example of observation in a personal project too.
To discuss
Which uncertainty about use justifies a conversation, and how can we arrange it without imposing it?