That Echo Chamber is Getting Loud
A simple fix for when internal meetings start to sound the same.
Directive
Before your day ends, listen to one raw, unedited conversation with a real customer.
Why It Matters
We spend our days in a whirlwind of stand-ups, roadmaps, and sprint planning. It’s easy to start building for the loudest voice in the room, which is often our own. We create an admirably-designed echo chamber where our own assumptions and jargon bounce back at us. I once saw a team spend a quarter on a "game-changing" feature, only to find from a single support call that the customer's real problem was just a confusing button on the previous page. Listening to a real user cuts through the noise and reminds us who we’re actually serving.
Action Item
This doesn't have to be another meeting. Ping someone on your Sales or Customer Support team. Ask for a link to a recording from this week—a support call, a sales demo, a user feedback session. Put on your headphones for 15 minutes and just listen. Don't take notes to build a feature; take notes to build empathy. What words do they use? Where do they get frustrated? What was their "aha" moment?
Words to Work By
"Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves." - Steve Jobs
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