Asking users for solutions yields incremental ideas like "faster horses." Instead, ask them to tell detailed stories about their workflow. This narrative approach uncovers the true context, pain points, and decision journeys that direct questions miss, leading to breakthrough insights about the actual problem to be solved.

Customers, like founders, have a gap between their stated beliefs and actual behaviors. Instead of relying on discovery interviews, watch them work. Observing their actions reveals their true operating philosophy—what they genuinely value—which is a more reliable guide for product development than what they say.

To get unbiased user feedback, avoid asking leading questions like "What are your main problems?" Instead, prompt users to walk you through their typical workflow. In describing their process, they will naturally reveal the genuine friction points and hacks they use, providing much richer insight than direct questioning.

Tock rejected traditional focus groups and instead embedded its software engineers directly into restaurants to work shifts as hosts. This forced immersion gave the engineering team firsthand experience with the end-user's pain points, leading to a far more intuitive and effective product than surveys could produce.

While interviews yielded feature ideas, observing inspectors in the field ("ride-alongs") revealed the true bottleneck: hours spent writing reports at home. This insight allowed Spectora to ignore superficial requests and focus on the core workflow efficiency problem, which became their key marketing pillar.

A GSB receptionist's casual chats with alumni revealed the program's long-term "fine wine" value—a strategic insight that formal surveys often miss. This shows how empowering frontline employees to listen can uncover profound user truths.

To truly understand customers, go to their natural environment—their home or shop. Observing their context reveals far more than sterile office interviews. This practice, internally branded "Listen or Die," ensures the entire team stays connected to the user's reality.

For 10 years, Red Wing has maintained "The Crew," a consistent group of 20 loyalist customers. They connect monthly via calls with product and marketing teams, providing ruthless and authentic feedback that directly shapes strategy, far beyond what traditional focus groups can offer.

The only reliable way to understand a customer is to "forward deploy"—work alongside them in their actual environment. This direct experience of their job closes the context gap that interviews can't bridge, revealing unspoken needs and frustrations.