Phase: Stop Self Harm
Principle: Focus on User Needs
Practice: Identify End User Needs
Identify End User Needs
Development
Motivation
Any value we create is through meeting the needs of others. A mantra of "not sucking as much as the competitors" is not acceptable. We must be the best we can be.1
Consider these first
Illustrative description
Identifying user needs is an entire discipline in itself. At least, interview your users and generate a user needs list.
Detailed description
Identifying user needs is an entire discipline in itself. There are many approaches and methodologies available. At least, interview your users and generate a user needs list. Beyond that, select one of the many approaches and follow those. On the self-help end of the spectrum, you can start by following A Beginner's Guide To Finding User Needs. On the other end of the spectrum, you may have an entire user experience department. They may be implementing Design Thinking. And there is everything else between.
Another mechanism, if you adopted Wardley Maps, is to map out the user’s landscape. By mapping out their landscape, you can often clarify what is really needed along with finding entire new opportunities for business.
Reminder: Stop reading, take action