Show me the evidence

The evidence often isn’t there:

“Our customers will love this idea…” Interesting assertion you made there. Show me the evidence. Did they tell you they’ll love this idea, or are you telling them they will?

“We should build this new feature…” Cool feature. But who’s it for? Did your audience tell you it should be built, or did you just see it on your competitor’s website and think you need it too?

“I think the layout should include…” Nice idea, you designer you. But what makes you think so? Did your audience give any indication that it would help them use your product better? At all?

Whenever we have a great idea, the temptation is always to push it forward without even questioning whether or not our audience wants or needs to. Because they’ll surely love this one.

Show me the evidence. It could surprise both of us.