Problem first, idea next - tips for conducting effective user research

After working as a Strategic Designer & Program Manager for two years I initiated a transition towards product management in 2023. As I continue on this professional journey, I have come to learn and staunchly uphold a fundamental approach to my work — Problem first, idea next.

Photo by Olav Ahrens Røtne on Unsplash

While trying to solve a problem, it is often easy to make assumptions and jump to conclusions about what might work or not. This ease of decision-making comes either from a place of intuition that was built through repeated learning and experience, or simply due to the lack of enough understanding of the problem. Interestingly, the former category are also usually the ones that strive most to know and understand the problem first, irrespective of their knowledge and experience.

In Strategic Planning, we begin from a place of zero knowledge while interacting with stakeholders, which has a strong impact on the way we listen and what we pay attention to. Similarly, building user empathy through interviews comes through deep listening. Action Learning has a very similar approach where the participants ask open questions to enable a deeply reflective space for the main presenter. Here is a well documented example of action learning in practice from my previous role managing the Neighbourhood Food Model.

In Planning as well as Product Management, the key is to arrive at the right solution that is beneficial for the people we are solving them for. Stakeholder and User Interviews are an essential component of this problem solving journey as they help gather the necessary qualitative insights to identify and understand the problem from different perspectives, and impact problem prioritisation before we get to solving them.

Having done this actively across different contexts and teams, I identified the following six ‘rules’ to use while conducting user or stakeholder interviews:

Define a clear goal for the interview:

A well-defined objective will help you frame an efficient structure for the interview. You will know what questions to ask only if you know what you want answered through the conversation with the user.

Prepare in advance & be ready to take notes:

NEVER go in blind while conducting an interview if you can. Do the work, create a framework and checklist of questions, ensure you have the necessary set up capture notes — even if you are recording the converstion. Trust me, it’s always good to capture some insights that surface while listening. This way you wouldn’t lose any interesting analysis that happens in the background when someone is telling you their story.

Avoid being prescriptive:

This is the first and most important rule while asking questions. Practice and create an interview structure that aims to understand the user’s experience thoroughly. We often develop confidence in asking the right questions only through practice. So I came up with a simple exercise to ensure I don’t ask any leading questions that migh influence the user’s response. Below is a template (inspired by many others that I’ve seen) I created to help me rephrase questions in alignment with the objectives and the user type. I find this very useful, especially in hypothesis-driven research where I want to validate assumptions or insights without packing solutions or answers inside the questions.

Preparatory exercise template for asking the right questions

Keep it simple:

Use clear and simple language when it comes to the research process, including the interview objectives, questions and analysis. These are some actions you can do to ensure this:

1. Work with your team to get feedback on whether the interview goals are clear.
2. While interviewing, ask one question at a time — the user may sometimes answer many questions without being asked. So avoid asking complex questions or clubbing many together. If you feel something is missing, you can always ask them a follow up question.

Talk less, listen more… and listen correctly:

It is obvious that the purpose of an interview is to gather insights from users. But listening correctly isn’t just about hearing the words they say. It is equally about paying attention to how they sound, try to capture their emotions and behavioural responses — this in an instance where your notes can come in handy. Note how they feel about a particular tool, feature or their experience.

Be kind, respectful & patient:

Many qualitative insights come from emotions and reactions, and a lot more can come from silence. So learn to be patient, don’t prompt answers and remain silent, giving the user time to think or respond. Yes, you might only have limited time to get all the answers for your research, but it is always better to get one good answer than several prompted or forced responses. Remember that creating a good interview experience for the user and establishing trust can positively impact the results quality of insights acquired through the interview.

The following are a few blogs, toolkit or resources that have helped me along the way:

*A Cheatsheet for User Interview and Follow Ups Questions*

*A short video explaining The Mom Test*

[Action Learning overview](https://wial.org/action-learning/#:~:text=Action Learning is a process of insightful questioning and reflective,and only then taking action.)

*60 Examples Of GROW Model Questions*

*How to conduct effective user interviews*

*How to Conduct User Interviews as a Product Manager*

*13 time-saving tips and tools for conducting great user interviews*

Do share any other relevant resources and your thoughts in the comments section!