This quote on The Jungle from A G Lafley encourages us to see our products in action.

“If you want to understand how a lion hunts, don’t go to the zoo. Go to the jungle.”

A G Lafley was a strong supporter of ethnography (user testing). If you want to know how somebody uses a product, go out and watch them use it. A classic example is PARC researchers trying to work out how a copier works. These are smart people:

He’s arguing against false environments such as focus groups even though focus groups have a part to play in most business’ market research.

Field research also reveals the environment in which your products are used. A colleague of mine watched his products being added to an assembly in a customer site when he realised that doing sub-assembly work would help the customer and generate more revenue for him. It worked. He moved from supplying components to supplying sub-assemblies that were significantly more valuable. If you don’t get into the field, you don’t find this out.