Dogfooding and user interviews

When developers regularly use their own products (dogfooding), they naturally identify and address pain points. Without this practice, teams must rely solely on empathy for users’ challenges. In our increasingly individualistic society - partly influenced by current social media dynamics - genuine empathy is becoming less common.

This is part of why small teams—sometimes just with a single developer—can regularly run circles around larger organizations. If the tool exists to scratch their own itch (dogfooding), then they’ll understand their tool, its purpose, and all the nuances that come up.

It’s not necessarily that a tiny team is smarter. Rather, larger organizations have different incentives. Its too easy to become isolated from the people who actually use the software you’re building.

I’m always (delightfully) surprised by the things I miss in user interviews. I think I know something—I’ve spent countless time designing it after all—but often come up short when talking to actual users. The way I thought they’d interact with the tool is rarely reality.

If you’re working on software, and can’t dogfood, the next best thing is to talk to end users, ask them to try your latest designs, and learn from them.

Via Pedro Piñera.