Don't be a self-referential Steve Jobs wannabe
Being self-referential all the time risks creating a product that only you desire.
In recent years I’ve noticed a rising anti-research sentiment across tech. Maybe research is just catching strays from the general distaste people have for design thinking, but often it feels more like people just don’t like being wrong. Research is all about proving yourself wrong. That can be uncomfortable.
But what should make you exponentially more uncomfortable is being self-referential. Making decisions only based on you or your stakeholders assumptions, opinions, and problems.
To be clear, the mantras "build a product that solves a problem you have" and "dog food your own product" (meaning use the things you're making) are still valid. It does, however, come with inherent risks. Product people often make the mistake of becoming self-referential and designing only for themselves. You're not your customer. Do research.
But Steve Jobs didn't do research
You may have also heard people talk about how Apple didn't do user research on the original iPhone, so therefore research is a waste of time. Steve Jobs famously said "People don't know what they want until you show it to them."
First of all, you are not Steve Jobs.
Second, the next part of that quote is "that's why I never rely on market research". Market research is different than user research. Market Research is focused on understanding the market's dynamics. It involves studying competition, market trends, customer demographics, buying behaviors, and consumer preferences. The goal ultimately being identifying market opportunities. UX research is about understanding user's perceptions, needs, and behaviors when interacting with a product, service, or system. Another key word there is “rely”. He did not rely on it. That does not mean there is no value in it.
Thirdly, Steve Jobs did value user experience and user feedback. If you haven't seen it, here's a photo of Steve Jobs watching a woman using an Apple computer through a window with intense curiosity.
There are anecdotes of him watching customers using Apple products in Apple stores. Regardless, Apple does UX research. They employ researchers.
Being self-referential all the time risks creating a product that only you desire. If you never talk to your customers you'll inevitably stray further and further from products that they would be willing to pay for. You'll only solve problems that you have. There's not much money in that.
Does that mean dog fooding is bad?
Absolutely not at all. I think the opposite is true. Using your own products and services is actually a really good idea. Without understanding the daily reality within your product, it would be hard to improve it. Not fully believing in your product makes selling it very difficult. To be able to believe in it, you have to know it well.
However, always keep in mind that the way you use your product might be different than your customers. For example, Slack uses Slack to communicate about building Slack. They write really long posts and always reply in threads. My mileage using Slack has varied greatly from that. Most teams I’ve been on have treated it like a group message or IRC chat.
But what if I have good intuition?
Then you're probably in the right career. You should be developing a keen sense for what users will react to, what is usable, and the design patterns your target audience tends to understand as you go. That's great. But our assumptions are still often wrong. One of the most exciting things about UX research is learning what we've been wrong about. Get over the discomfort you may feel there quick. Would you rather be wrong really early and course correct or find out way too late?
Obviously use your intuition. But also talk to your customers. Literally 2x efficiency. Nice.
Wait… should I solve my own problems still?
This is still a valid approach to starting work on a product. See a problem, define the problem, build a solution, sell the solution. This method has been proven time and again. However, between defining the problem and building a solution, you need to validate that your understanding and approach are correct. Best way to do that? Talk to people. And UX research methods are really really good at helping there.
In conclusion…
You're not Steve Jobs. If you think UX research can't help you, you've only seen bad research or bad synthesis. The common Steve Jobs quote about not liking research is partially true but largely misused. Don't make excuses to do half of your job. Talk to your users. You are not your user.