PMs: When a customer says “I want CSV export,” and you just write...

PMs: When a customer says “I want CSV export,” and you just write it down, you’re wasting the interview.

Here’s how to flip lazy feature requests into goldmine insights.

It took me 5 years of painful interviews to learn this. You’ll get it in 1 minute.

1/ The proper response is to probe the underlying need:

"What would CSV export allow you to do?"
"How are you handling this today?"
"Talk me through the last time this came up"

I've added prompts to AI Prompts for Product Work to help PMs dig deeper: 👉 prodmgmt.world/products/ai-pr… ($15) 🛍️

2/ Fascinating insight from The Mom Test:

The world's most dangerous response in customer interviews is:

"I would definitely buy that"

It sounds concrete but is actually a completely valueless signal. Instead, push for commitment today.

3/ A precise framework for handling customer ideas:

Idea = Signal
But of what?

- Past behavior
- Current problems
- Desired outcomes
- Implementation constraints

4/ Crucial observation:

The more you're talking, the worse you're doing.

A proper customer interview should leave you mentally exhausted from listening and pattern matching, not from explaining your brilliant solution.

I hope you've found this thread helpful.

Follow me @nurijanian for more.

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