WALK A MILE IN THEIR SHOES. To build a killer app, you have to do it. It's a simple concept, but it never ceases to amaze me how many companies don't do it.  Sometimes it takes an outsider to be able to truly look at things from the user's perspective. In order to do that, you have to 'hear it from the horse's mouth'.

 

Most companies I work with think they have a pretty good idea of their customers' needs.  But their viewpoint is biased.  They're convinced they have a great offering.

 

When users question the utility of a particular piece of functionality, companies often respond with something like "the user just doesn't understand the value our solution is providing". But USEFULNESS AND VALUE ARE IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER.

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I'm a tireless advocate of getting out into the field and spending time with the users of the application. Employing multiple methodologies including Google Design Sprints and user interviews, I prototype the critical parts of the application. Then I run usability tests to see whether or not our app makes sense to the user, and if they find it easy to perform common tasks.  

 

The goal of usability testing is to surface any friction points that the user encountered.  NOW is the time we want to discover those ... when it's cheap to correct them.  This way we can tweak the prototype and re-test it until we're satisfied that it will be easy and enjoyable to use.

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The impact on user adoption, and ultimately, the success of the application are directly proportional to the degree to which you understand your users.

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