Stop Assuming! Here Is Why

Product Management Tip: Stop assuming everyone knows what you know.

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Many years back, an old school friend was visiting me from another city & was planning to crash at my place for a few nights.

I wanted his trip to be perfect, so I made a meticulous checklist of things to orient him on.

Kitchen, washroom, wifi, TV, bedroom, 3-pin sockets - I made sure he knew where everything was as soon as he arrived.

After dinner & a long session of recalling funny school stories, we called it a day & retired to our respective rooms.

The next morning I woke up to loud thuds.

Startled, I came out of my room & heard my friend calling out my name.

Yikes.

I rushed towards the door & this is the conversation I had:

Me: "Shery! I'm here, dude. What happened?"

Shehryar: "Yaar, OMG - where were you? I can't seem to open the door lock."

Me: "Door lock? You just need to turn it, bro. Duh."

Shehryar: "Oh thanks for the tip, Aatir. I thought I had to dance around it. What do you think I've been doing?"

Me: "Oho. Pull the door handle towards you and then turn it."

* click * Shery was out.

Shery: "Ugh. What a weird door."

Me: "Oh please. All doors need a little niggle."

Shery: "Maybe in the universe you come from. By the way, how do I get water in the showerhead? I've tried everything."

Me: "Oh that's easy. Just pull the knob below the faucet."

* I go in and demonstrate *

Shery: "Yikes. I didn't even see that lever."

Me: "Dude, wasn't it obvious?"

It wasn't obvious.

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As Product Managers, when we're working on a spec for a long while (just like we're used to our own homes), we start taking a few things for granted.

We assume that everyone is in tune with our mental model.

Ex: We tend to think the happy case will be observed 99% of the time because it's just so obvious.

When we're testing out a build, we're breezing through the insanely long form with dummy data failing to realize it's actually a pain.

We start using acronyms in the product copy we think everyone relates to.

We stop questioning the form elements, labels & validations applied as it's "straightforward".

We write vague success/error/next-step messages thinking that people will figure it out.

And so on.

We can't assume "everyone knows".

We also can't assume "everyone agrees" with our opinion & being a victim of the false consensus effect.

I remember using this tool called Userpeek a while back.

The platform basically shows your product or marketing site to volunteers in a specific demographic. They, then narrate in detail what they think about it. You get to hear the recording.

Listening to random people go through my page, comment on little things that I had never thought of addressing & showing me ways my messaging could be interpreted opened my eyes.

Thus, getting fresh eyes on your spec, wireframes & prototypes helps a lot.

Show it to potential customers. See what someone in another team thinks. Everyone is unique.