Hidden in Plain View

Hey I commented on @customeyesz blog about customer research http://bit.ly/gHCOCL I'm wedged firmly on the fence, what do you think?less than a minute ago via TweetDeckMark Mapstone
markmapstone




yeah I agree here… I don’t anyone will deny the value of good research.

Ooops. I’ve just said something subjective there. ‘Good’ – anyone can convince themselves that their own research is ‘good enough’. Most projects that I’ve been involved with have either been a spin off product / service whereby the company can afford to take a punt, or have been thought about for a long time and bounced around many minds for months and maybe years before it finally comes to making the jump to production.

So now I’m thinking about what is ‘effective’ research, or ‘adequate’ research? Is there a benchmark? A checklist? A guide I can follow to ensure that I’ve covered all bases for my next project? I guess that’s where you guys come in

But then there are the visionaries… the Steve Jobs of this world, the James Dysons and Bransons… Steve doesn’t research (test, yes) but he’s famous for saying ‘You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new’.

Soo.. whilst I agree with research. I also sit on the fence with it. My core skill is web design and development and now its more about web technologies and future trends… and because of that… I know (enough of) my stuff to keep up with emerging applications and service offerings. Clients constantly would ask for features that were dead in the water… and it was up to me to steer the back to the future. Obviously the tech industry is notoriously fast paced, but it taught enough to know that Steve might be right… they don’t really know what they want.

But then, this is where my knowledge tails off and yours will supersede mine! So… over to you… how do you respond to people like me, that know they should research more, but often don’t… choosing to rely on their own knowledge of the industry they exist in?

Good blog post – Mark

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