Last year, I sat in sprint planning as the team loaded up two weeks with "must-have" features. Everyone was locked in. Then I asked: "Can I see the raw user feedback?"

Turns out, users weren't asking for features—they were describing workarounds for a broken flow. We had translated "I keep clicking this and nothing happens" into "users need a new export button."

We almost burned two weeks building something nobody asked for. Users would still be stuck, just with one more button to ignore.

The features users request are symptoms, not solutions. They'll tell you how they tried to fix things themselves. Your job is to spot the wound beneath the bandage.

I'm Abdulahi, a Digital Product Designer who helps businesses turn user insights into designs that actually work bridging the gap between user needs and business goals.