Listening to Customers

What’s important in interactions with customers is how we interpret what we hear. As Product Managers//Owners (PO/PM) our challenge is to listen actively and always seek for the underlying pain points.

Customers may be telling us how they want to change our product, but we always need to dig deeper to understand why. Never be afraid to follow one “Why?” with another, with another, and yet with another. Sometimes it takes several attempts to get to the bottom of why the customer really wants us to change the product. If we understand the real need, the real pain point, then we can present the challenge to our engineers and architects in a way that leaves room for them to address the root of the issue in a most creative and effective manner, potentially much better than what the customer had in mind.

Other times, the customer may not even mention the pain point, not realizing they have it. Here again a PO/PM using effective interviewing skills can pick up on potential opportunity to create value for the customer, to alleviate a pain point, to offer them something they would be willing to pay for.

Last, but not least, PO/PMs are managing products, not tailored solutions. We therefore need to look for common needs, ways to improve our products for all (or many) customers not just one. This requires ability co connect the dots, draw parallels, and recognize patterns when interviewing customers. Often times customers describe their needs, issues, challenges using different words and propose different solutions. No one is in a better position than a PO/PM to help translate this stream of data into actionable product roadmap and backlog.