CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY
Getting away from your desk and visiting your target users is a powerful instrument. Site visits can be performed in short time, and the outcome can really make a difference. Bringing team members along also helps to develop a shared understanding and create validated user empathy.
Inquisitive observation is key
What you learn through observation can be more powerful than what users tell you when you interview them. Observing what they do and how they behave in their ow environment can help you see things that they forget tot tell you or that they might not know about themselves.
Insights can come from small details
Sometimes you don't know the importance of a seemingly small detail about your target user until after your visit them. Observe first, internalize next. For newcomers to this is sometimes the hardest part: To keep having an inquisitive mindset, to keep your eyes open for every detail, and to not draw conclusions until later.
When visiting the Funeral Service Providers we interviewed them first. They invited us to their front-offices for this. There they all spoke of a structured and well organized work process there, and that filling in online forms was no trouble. Then we asked them to take us to their work desks and show us how they performed some of their daily tasks. It turned out their desks were full of paperwork, that high pressure time constraints were a constant, and that they didn't have time organize their work.
