Podcast · 25 min

Question Your Customers

Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson · REWORK, 37signals Free Beginner

Fried and Hansson argue for asking customers a small number of open ended questions rather than running formal surveys, and explain why the language customers use to describe their own problems is worth more than any feature request. It is a useful counterweight if you have been over engineering your feedback process, reminding you that a good open question asked regularly beats an elaborate one time study.

  • One good open ended question often beats a long structured survey.
  • The words customers use to describe their problem are useful for your own product language.
  • Not every piece of feedback deserves a spot on your roadmap, filter deliberately.
Open on 37signals.com ↗

The question it answers

  1. How do I keep learning from customers after launch instead of only doing research once at the start?

Read with it

  1. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  2. A short, practical field guide to customer discovery: who to talk to, how to find them, and how many. Pairs perfectly with The... talkingtohumans.com Book · ~80 pages (free PDF available) Talking to Humans Giff Constable
  3. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
  4. The standard modern playbook for keeping discovery continuous so roadmap decisions stay grounded in real customer input, not... Product Talk Book · ~240 pages Continuous Discovery Habits Teresa Torres
  5. Video · ~20 min How To Talk To Users | Startup School Gustaf Alstromer
  6. Video · About 3 minutes Steve Blank: Want Your Startup to Succeed? Get Out of the Building Steve Blank (Inc. Magazine)
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →