I sometimes sum this up as:
Don‘t listen to your customer. Watch your customer.
Obviously needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but seeing how users behave is often more insightful than asking them what they want. You just need to setup the environment for watching in a way that you learn what you want to learn.
We worked on a large overhaul of the customer support system for Big Grocery Store a couple years ago, and the PMs and designers spent a lot of time sitting down with the users and watching them walk through their current flow. They observed, asked about pain points, and then iterated on designs that the users could actually interact with. They had about 70% of the functionality fleshed out before we ever started implementation, which felt really good. We still hit plenty of roadblocks and gaps, but it felt much better in terms of understanding what the users actually needed
Great point. We have a customer who uses our tool in a sensitive environment - I'm not even allowed to watch them use it. This is mind bogglingly frustrating as I can only go by what they say, whereas half an hour actually seeing what they do with it would progress the tool and our relationship in leaps and bounds.
I often join the daily standup meeting of the support and deployment team so I can 'watch' them and it has been really valuable. Sometimes giving them tips & tricks, sometimes just listening to newcomers questions to learn what is not simple enough, learning some awful workaround they come up with instead of asking/opening a ticket, and also learning their bad habits.
Absolutely and I would also add: passively monitor and listen to them. What are they complaining or asking about in communities/social media? What are they talking about in conferences and industry events?
Obviously needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but seeing how users behave is often more insightful than asking them what they want. You just need to setup the environment for watching in a way that you learn what you want to learn.