Dogfooding: How Putting Yourself in the User's Shoes Changes the Way You See Your Product

Dogfooding: How Putting Yourself in the User's Shoes Changes the Way You See Your Product

Have you ever used a product that you helped create? It's a unique experience that can completely change your perspective. This phenomenon is known as "dogfooding," and it involves using your own product as if you were a regular user. When you put yourself in the shoes of your customers, you gain valuable insights into the usability and functionality of your product.

Faced with the pain of having to use the Ancestry tool for work communication, the team gained a greater understanding of the problems with it, as well as a better idea of how to solve them. Dogfooding forces you to experience a product as your users do—not just in a theoretical or roadmap sense, but in a real, practical, everyday sense. The process of dogfooding allows you to identify blind spots and gain insight into how to address them effectively.

One common pitfall that many of us fall into when we get really close to our product is forgetting what it's like to be a new user. We become so familiar with our product that we overlook issues that might be obvious to an outsider. This can hinder the growth and improvement of our product. It's important to remember that not everyone has the same knowledge and understanding that we do.

To combat this, I encourage you to sign up for your service again, using a brand new account. By doing this every few months, you can stay up-to-date on the user experience and remind yourself that there's always more to learn and improve. Ask yourself questions like, what are the pitfalls and challenges that people run into? Does the product feel easy or hard to use? What makes the product sticky for users?

Having customer empathy is crucial in the development of any product. It means putting yourself in the shoes of your users and experiencing the product from their point of view. It's about looking outside yourself and seeing through their eyes, without the debugging tools and access to engineers. We need to remember that we're building products for people who may not have computers or expensive smartphones, and if we forget that, we risk leaving them out of the equation.

Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that the whole world is made up of people just like us. However, the reality is quite different. Our perspectives are often limited by our surroundings, the technology we use, and the issues we encounter in our daily lives. Dogfooding can give us a different viewpoint, enabling us to see how our products affect people who are different from us. This global mindset is essential for creating inclusive and user-friendly products.

In addition to dogfooding, there are other tools and techniques that can help us link our thinking and gain a deeper understanding of our product. Tools like Evernote, Ulysses, Bear, Roam, and Obsidian can assist us in different aspects of the product development process. Evernote is great for collecting ideas, Ulysses and Bear are perfect for building stories out of those ideas, Roam helps with sorting and organizing ideas, and Obsidian is ideal for relating ideas together.

In conclusion, dogfooding is a powerful practice that can completely change the way you see your product. By experiencing your product as a user, you can identify blind spots, gain insights, and ultimately improve the user experience. Remember to regularly sign up for your own service with a fresh account to stay up-to-date and continuously learn and improve. Additionally, adopting a global mindset and considering the perspectives of people who are different from us is essential for creating inclusive and user-friendly products.

Actionable advice:

• 1. Dogfood your own product regularly: Sign up for your service again using a new account every few months. This will keep you updated on the user experience and help you identify areas for improvement.

• 2. Develop customer empathy: Put yourself in the shoes of your users and experience the product from their perspective. Consider the challenges they might face and how to make the product more accessible and user-friendly.

• 3. Utilize tools for linking your thinking: Explore tools like Evernote, Ulysses, Bear, Roam, and Obsidian to assist you in different aspects of the product development process. These tools can help you collect, build, sort, and relate ideas together for a more comprehensive understanding of your product.