You Never Know Until You Do It

The different sessions at Enterprise always offer a unique and different experience. Every session has some new concepts, learnings associated with it. The best thing about it is that all of these are practical and can be applied immediately after I learn them. I have enjoyed one such series of sessions in the past month. These sessions were based on the topic “User Research”. This experience was very transforming for me. My mindset has been changed from judging things from the word go to giving them a try, understanding them and then forming opinions.

While starting out I was completely overwhelmed by the jargons that were coming my way. Identifying your segment, customer profile, persona, focus groups, value proposition etc. Understanding the logic behind things has always helped me. The terms made sense to me when I understood what do they want to convey and how are they applicable.

1 week into this process and I got to know that our final aim was that we wanted to identify keywords which are used by users time and again. Keywords which directly address or solve the customers pressing need or desire. While starting this process, I was not at all convinced with this idea. 1 month of intense research just to identify 2-3 words? Definitely not worth it.

At the same time, I was working on a client project with Ruby Jhunjhunwala who is a ceramic artist. So, whatever I was learning was directly applicable in my project. This process included defining the product, analysing our competitors, understanding our users/potential users and then finally finding key words.

One of the important steps in this process was the user interview. User interviews are important but the most mind-blowing revelation of this process was transcription. Transcription is the process of converting a user interview into word form without trimming a single word. Transcription gave me the direct, specific and clear image about my customer. For me salespeople are problem solvers and thus the more I am clear about the problems my customer is facing the more proficiently I can pitch my product. Transcription and the analysis of the user interview led me to understanding the customer’s needs, pains, desires which made me more confident about my product.

All of this lead me to the crux of this process…. identifying the key words. After experiencing all the process, doing it first hand if you ask me, “What do you think are these 2-3 words worth this exhausting process?” Absolutely! Without a doubt! It’s because these words go from heart to heart. These words are like sharp and pointed arrows which target the users need, the user’s pressing problem. This is because they are taken out from the intense research of finding the customer’s needs and pains.

I have now somewhat learned to do things which don’t seem to be useful immediately. Spending time on transcription didn’t seem useful at all. I felt that there is no need to do it if I was present during the interview. But transcription was the most useful thing. I have understood and accepted the fact that even if I am unable to see any direct advantage of a thing, doing it to understand if its useful or not is super important.

The second thing which I have taken from this experience is to thoroughly work on the backend of anything before presenting the front end. Now on, anything which I am going to present or apply somewhere will contain clinical research before jumping on to its execution. The deal only takes place if the paperwork is taken care off. I have understood that application or execution only makes sense if it’s backed by all the necessary work.

And, Most importantly now there is complete shift in how I actually look at certain things. I have now become more open towards certain things. The cliché “Never judge a book by its cover” seems too simple and elementary but it is of profound meaning. I literally experienced it in the past month. The transition from me rejecting and refusing the importance of the key words to understanding and experiencing their impact has been transforming. It has made me realise, “ You never know until you do it”.