We don’t need user research
“We don’t need user Research”
“We already know what we should build”
“There is no time for Discovery”
“I would want it to work this way”
Just some wild things that were said today…
In user-centred design, speaking to your users through an ongoing conversation is key to success! Whether this is through discovery interviews, co-creation & service design activities, or usability testing content and solutions; it is almost always impossible to make the right decisions without user research.
At a practical level, user researcher can’t answer every question, nor should they. There is a need to work with product leaders to createa a product strategy or roadmap to solve user problem. Even then, this strategy should not be taken as gospel, user research should support working through much of the finer details.
The correct (ironic) answer to these above quotes are:
Ok,the time when your really don’t need User Research is after the solution has been launched unsuccessfully and the project has to be closed down!