User research tip #33 - don't ask people what they want - quote from essential intranets

User Research essentials from James Robertson and the team at Step 2.

Great advice for user interviews.

“The important thing to avoid asking staff ‘what they want’. Instead questions should focus on what people do, what’s easy, what’s important, and what’s hard. From this, teams can infer where the intranet can best deliver value.”

Important principle for internal staff services

“The key principle is this: you can’t deliver effective solutions to staff you haven’t personally met.”

Source: Essential Intranets - .mobi Location 2732 [Yeah I miss page numbers too ;-)]

Bruce Klopsteins

UX maven, content strategist, communicator, information obssessive, exploratory completionist, and fan of witty banter. When not quoting other people's brilliance, thoughts are my own.