Most teams run customer interviews. Very few learn anything from them.
The difference usually comes down to how questions are framed. 'Would you use this?' gets you polite lies. 'Walk me through the last time you tried to do X' gets you the truth.
We teach every product lead at Smart Edge the same five-question structure. It doesn't change per engagement; the answers always do.
The second muscle is synthesis. Interviews are raw material, not insights. Insights come from cross-referencing five to eight interviews and noticing patterns — and that takes hours of real work per interview, not minutes.
Done right, discovery cuts build cost by a third. Done as a checklist, it's theater. Pick one.
