Presented at Leanconf 2014 http://leanconf.co.uk. To build the right product you need to understand the people who use it. Good interviewing should be one of your core skills—whether you are a designer, an entrepreneur, a product manager, or an innovator. Yet I see people making the same mistakes again and again when they go and talk to customers. This talk will help folk get the most from conversations with customers — by showing you how not to do it. I’ll walk through a series of examples of how I’ve seen people do it wrong, and advice on how to avoid their mistakes.

1. Adrian Howard (@adrianh)
How To Fail At
Customer Interviewing
Leanconf, Manchester, November 18 2014

2. Don’t do them

3. “If I had asked my customers
what they wanted they would
have said a faster horse”

4. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_ford_1919.jpg

5. “If there is any one
secret of success, it
lies in the ability to
get the other person's
point of view and see
things from that
person's angle as well
as from your own”
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_ford_1919.jpg

6. Don’t get somebody else
to do the interviews

7. ideas
learn build
data product
measure

8. build
learn
measure
product
data
ideas

9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eames_Lounge_Chair
“Never delegate understanding”
–Charles Eames

10. Don’t stop doing them

11. “We learn something
every day, and lots of
times it's that what
we learned the day
before was wrong.”
–Bill Vaughan

12. Don’t interview people who
are not your customers

13. https://www.flickr.com/photos/artfulone/14206229674/sizes/l

14. https://www.flickr.com/photos/joncandy/5561310462

15. Go where your customers are

16. Use your organisation

17. Use recruiters

18. Use social media

19. Don’t do things that only
look like interviews

20. An interview is not a… quiz
survey
negotiation
pitch
date
conversation

21. Rapport & Empathy

22. Learn from your customer

23. Don’t just use interviews
for validation

24. ideas
learn build
data product
measure

25. ideas
learn build
data product
measure

26. ideas
learn build
data product
measure

27. Don’t talk

28. SHUT THE
F**K UP

29. “The opposite of talking isn't listening
The opposite of talking is waiting”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Christopher_Macsurak_Fran_Lebowitz.jpg
– Fran Lebowitz

30. Can you tell me
more about … ?

31. “Every clarification
breeds new questions”
– Arthur Bloch

32. Don’t ask for your fortune

33. https://www.flickr.com/photos/svenstorm/4452323687/sizes/o/

34. Ask for stories

35. STALK
before you
TALK
before you
SELL
before you
BUILD

36. Don’t lead the customer

37. Open questions

38. Don’t disrespect
the customer

39. Be polite

40. Don’t be scary

41. Consider compensation

42. Remember body language

43. Don’t trust your memory

44. Work in pairs

45. Consider recording

46. Write up your notes
straight away!

47. Observations vs Insights

48. Don’t keep the results
to yourself

52. http://memegenerator.net/instance/54379154

53. You should interview
your customers regularly

54. You should interview
your customers regularly

55. You should interview
your customers regularly

56. You should interview
your customers regularly

57. You should interview
your customers regularly

58. You should interview
your customers regularly

59. Practice, practice, practice

61. Do retrospectives

62. DO LESS
TOGETHER
MORE OFTEN
to do
MORE
Adrian Howard (@adrianh)
quietstars.com

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Adrian Howard (@adrianh)
quietstars.com