Don't just collect feedback from all users equally. Identify and listen closely to the few "visionary users" who intuitively grasp what's next. Their detailed feedback can serve as a powerful validation and even a blueprint for your long-term product strategy.

Structured analysis works when you can theorize potential causes and test them. However, for problems where the causes are "unknown unknowns," design thinking is superior. It starts with user empathy and observation to build a theory from the ground up, rather than imposing one prematurely.

Common frustrations, like chronically forgetting which stove knob controls which burner, are not personal failings. They are examples of poor design that lacks intuitive mapping. Users often internalize these issues as their own fault when the system itself is poorly designed.

While AI efficiently transcribes user interviews, true customer insight comes from ethnographic research—observing users in their natural environment. What people say is often different from their actual behavior. Don't let AI tools create a false sense of understanding that replaces direct observation.

Don't design solely for the user. The best product opportunities lie at the nexus of what users truly need (not what they say they want), the company's established product principles, and its core business objectives.

When handed a specific solution to build, don't just execute. Reverse-engineer the intended customer behavior and outcome. This creates an opportunity to define better success metrics, pressure-test the underlying problem, and potentially propose more effective solutions in the future.

Developers often test AI systems with well-formed, correctly spelled questions. However, real users submit vague, typo-ridden, and ambiguous prompts. Directly analyzing these raw logs is the most crucial first step to understanding how your product fails in the real world and where to focus quality improvements.

The true power of UX research is aligning the entire product team with a common understanding of the user. This shared language prevents working at cross-purposes and building a disjointed product that users can feel.