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Ask HN: What are the best books on talking to users?
Hi HN!
With AI making it easier than ever to create software, it feels more important than ever to understand how to speak to users
That said, I feel like there's a ton of content online on how to build, but far fewer recommendations on how to figure out what users want and what to build that avoids confirmation bias, false signals, etc.
I'm looking for recommendations on insightful books (or other resources) that others have personally found helpful for developing user interviewing skills, framing good questions, and generally becoming better at interacting with real-world users.
What has helped you bridge that gap between the code/AI/product creation side, and actually communicating with users?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions! :)
- tejonutella 1y ago“The mom test” maybe?
- skydhash 1y agoThere are three main subproblems to your questions: 1. Find out what users wants. The answer to that is research and the only book I have is Just Enough Research by Erika Hall. I also found Essentials of Business Research Methods by Joe Hair Jr. et al. 2. Build the thing that the user wants. That's mostly the real of Software Requirements and I have two candidates for you: - Mastering the Requirements Process: Getting Requirements Right by Suzanne and James Robertson - Software Requirements by Karl Wiegers and Joy Beatty. 3. Build something that the user likes and that he can use. That's UX and I have three candidates this time: - Observing the User Experience, 2nd Edition by E. Goodman and M. Kunlavsky - Understanding Your Users, 2nd Edition by K. Baxter et al. - The UX Book by R. Hartson and P. S. Pyla All of those just emphasize having an objective view of what you want to bring to the users and a rational execution strategy. I haven't read all so I can't judge them, but I believe they will give you enough starting points for you to devise your own method.
- terrellbm 1y agoLove your breakdown and suggested books! Do you have 1 book out of these you suggest above all else? (just wondering where to start :))
- vismit2000 1y ago'Design of Everyday Things' to first have sympathy with the users.
- terrellbm 1y agoThis book is always at the top of Amazon charts, but have never read it Always have thought it was more around design rather than talking to users but I think sympathizing is the first step Thanks for the rec!
- rozenmd 1y ago- The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick - Deploy Empathy by Michele Hansen - Badass: Making Users Awesome by Kathy Sierra
- terrellbm 1y agoDownloading the Kindle samples for these now! Do you have a favorite out of the 3? Thanks for the recommendations!
- rozenmd 1y agoI think The Mom Test stands out as a favorite just because it really made me realize I had no idea what I was doing. Making Users Awesome guided me towards the mindset shift needed to build product better, and Deploy Empathy gave me the exact questions to ask in customer interviews when I was stuck.
- terrellbm 1y agoGreat, super helpful hearing your takeaways from each book Thank you
- scarface_74 1y agoThe Geek Leader's Handbook: Essential Leadership Insight for People with Technical Backgrounds
- terrellbm 1y agoIs this more for management/leadership as opposed to talking to users? Seems like a good book overall! :)
- scarface_74 1y agoIt reads like it’s focused on either dealing with internal stakeholders, representatives of the users (Product managers) or consulting. But either way dealing with non technical people.
- terrellbm 1y agoSounds cool! Downloading the sample
- 0m3g4_k1ng 1y ago[flagged]
- terrellbm 1y agoEveryone's talking about the Mom Test so I should definitely give it a read! Someone else recommended Deploy Empathy which I've never heard of Feels like that would help in life generally!
- uticus 1y ago"what customers want" Anthony W. Ulwick https://a.co/d/5UHzfNK https://a.co/d/5UHzfNK (amazon link)
- terrellbm 1y agoLooks interesting - downloading the sample! Any interesting tidbits from the book you'd like to share?
- PyWoody 1y agoAbout Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design by Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, David Cronin, Christopher Noessel, with Jason Csizmadi and Doug LeMoine extensively covers how to talk with users.
- kingkongjaffa 1y agoContinuous discovery habits by Teresa Torres https://www.producttalk.org/2021/05/continuous-discovery-habits/ https://www.producttalk.org/2021/05/continuous-discovery-hab... And The mom test Are the ones I’ve used the most as a product manager trying to talk to customers every week.
- terrellbm 1y agoContinuous discovery habits sounds interesting, any takeaways from the book you found particularly interesting? I like the framing around discovery being an ongoing 'habit' as opposed to something that's one and done
- quocanh34 1y agothe mom test actually