A product manager acts as a representative of the user in the production process. This means that product managers need to be actively in sync with our users through talking and engaging with them. The necessity of carrying out user research comes in handy in this particular case.
Good user research involves two main groups namely our team working on the product and our product users. The team will be able to do more work that is targeted to the user needs while the users will understand how to use the product to fill their needs.
The users' main aim is to get a product that helps them carry out their daily tasks.
Questions to ask during User Research
What are the user's daily tasks?
Under what circumstances do the daily tasks occur?
How can the product we build do the daily tasks for the user?
Empathy
Empathy according to the dictionary is defined as the ability to understand and share in the feelings of another.
Product managers need to have empathy for our users. To be able to be empathetic we need to systematically communicate with our users and try to understand their problem and communicate it effectively.
Communication builds a connection and shows that we care about their needs and that they enjoy using our product.
Validation
Validation is proving that the assumptions that you have are valid especially when it comes to designing the product.
Facts and data are mainly relied on in order to make smart decisions.