This story takes place a few months ago, I found myself in the middle of an exploration meeting trying to understand some high-level requirements for a new feature. It was an interesting discussion about potential changes to our product and revamping one of our main modules. Ideas were flowing, everyone on the table was being creative, and the original idea started to get more complex and included a bigger scope.

Out of a sudden, someone in the room said “well, this looks a bit weird, we are assuming a lot of favorable conditions will happen in order for this solution to be successful; maybe we need more validation of the ideas”. A couple of the people in the room turned around and said: we already validated the requirements and our assumptions this how we are doing it.

Then I added: Are we sure this is the real problem?

A couple of odd looks took place between the people around the table. Then, someone asked:

• What is the main goal?
• What are we trying to solve here?

Suddenly, all the previous requirements for grooming didn’t sound concrete anymore, which led the group to question more and more things.

After few weeks of more research and user interviews. We discovered that a few “validated concepts” were in fact only assumptions and hunches. In the end, we concluded it required more research and validation with real users.

Similar episodes to this one frequently happen when developing new features or creating new products. We stop trying to find out what are the real needs and the root causes of something we want to solve. People involved in the meeting start to get carried away and jump to define solutions that have not been validated. These ideas might sound good according to the team’s eyes, but are we generating value for the users’?

Companies and stakeholders often end up ideating or creating a solution that solves their needs. Thinking that solving their pain point or craft a solution tailored to their needs, they are solving the users’ needs.

Stakeholders often forget that they are not the users and that the stakeholders’ assumptions need to be proved, verified, and validated.

When companies start looking only inside and forget to go out and see their product in real environments, the solutions often do not address the real problems.

There is no manual or guide to get the perfect solution for a specific problem, but you can try to get as much information as you can to ensure that your proposal is a solid one and that it addresses your users’ real needs.

A constant testing process is key to validate your assumptions, concepts, and ideas. At the end of the day, you want to deliver value with every single feature you work on.

Before getting on board with a new project, keep in mind that challenging the original requirements and questioning the assumptions is a healthy practice, which will allow the team to ensure that the real problem is being solved and that you are working based on facts and not assumptions.

Asking the right questions will provide you with answers related to the benefits of the new feature and its importance.

Some of these questions include:

• Why is the new feature needed?
• What value is it bringing to your users?
• How is it solving a real pain point?
• How is it supporting the users to achieve?

As UX designers, we have to understand how people interact so we can design better experiences. You need to think about the global experience related to where, how, and why your users will interact with your product. The key is to get as much information as you can to understand how you can provide value for your users and how you are helping them to achieve an objective.

Remember a great concept is not enough. Every concept needs to be reviewed and refined to create impact.

You can’t fix a bad idea with a pretty UI but a good concept well-worked can become a great experience for your users.