Years ago, I was fortunate enough to take a class on experimental design. Paraphrasing the professor: “The great thing about animals is they don’t talk—whatever they show you is true.” That lesson has stuck with me. As a builder—whether you’re an architect, developer, engineer, or designer—the most common mistake I see is people shortcutting the process of understanding.
Tools like Zoom and SurveyMonkey are great for what they’re designed to do: let us ask questions from the comfort of our homes or offices. But they’re terrible at helping us ask the right questions. And even when we do, there’s no guarantee we’ll get meaningful or accurate answers. A 30-minute interview with a department head won’t reveal that they don’t actually understand how the department functions—just that it’s profitable, so nobody asks too many questions. An account rep isn’t likely to mention that they’re tracking everything in Excel because they don’t think it’s relevant.
Companies routinely spend hundreds of thousands of dollars building solutions based on a quick conversation—because it’s convenient. But one of the easiest ways to improve product effectiveness and reduce waste is simple: observe. Don’t ask for a video. Don’t send someone who’s disconnected from the build. Send the people designing and developing the product. Let them watch how the work is actually done.