What interviews teach us about users

Interviews help us to:

• Expose needs
• Test new features
• Better understand behavior

One method that we often use is contextual inquiry. In addition to talking to the user, you also let them perform a task in their natural environment, so that you can observe their behavior live. And that's useful, because people don't always tell you everything. Sometimes they don't even see their own behavior as relevant.

We used this approach, for example, when redesigning Zigzag, a puppy training app. By observing users as they trained their dogs, we saw exactly how they used the app, where they got stuck, and what they needed. Things we would never have discovered through a survey.

The strength lies in the context: the environment, the moment and the tools determine how someone uses a system. And you only see that when you're actually there.

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