Discovery and User Research for Product Managers

The question behind the question

Why 'talk to some users' produces nothing usable

Writing a research question you could be surprised by

Deciding in advance what you'd do with each answer

Six methods and what each one is actually for

Attitudes versus behaviour: the distinction that decides everything

How many people, honestly

Mixing methods without doubling the work

Where to find five relevant people in two days

The recruiting message that gets replies

Screening without turning people away

Incentives, scheduling and no-shows

The four questions that do most of the work

Past behaviour, not future intention

Silence, follow-ups and the five whys done properly

The eleven phrases to never say

Why synthesis is where most research dies

Working from evidence, not memory

Building themes without inventing them

The frequency rule, and when to break it

Watching people work: the most underused method there is

Mining support tickets, sales calls and reviews

What your usage data can and can't tell you

Surveys: when they help and how they mislead

Why a research report is usually the wrong output

Findings, insights and implications: three different things

Getting your team to act without a readout meeting

Handling 'but our biggest customer said'

Why one big study a quarter doesn't work

The weekly rhythm that survives a busy roadmap

Building a pool of people who'll talk to you

Keeping what you learn findable

Five situations where talking to users won't help

Research as procrastination

Questions users structurally cannot answer

Knowing when you already know enough

Part 1: A research question and a five-person plan

Part 2: Five interviews, run and recorded

Part 3: Synthesis, findings and a decision your team acted on