Faster Horses
Nov 22, 2022
A quote by Henry Ford (1863-1947) came up more often than not in several discussions I had in the past about startups, priorities and innovation. The founder of the Ford Motor Company is credited the following about the invention of the automobile:
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
When talking with colleagues about priorities in roadmaps and what users actually ask for, this quote was (usually) used like an excuse to discard users' requests and always go for the shiny new thing because that will help the company grow.
From my point of view, when customers ask for a faster horse or the equivalent, they're asking for a better way to arrive to their destination, not a mammal with a jetpack. People know what they want to achieve, but they lack the insight and knowledge of what technology can provide and that's where we, the people that build the “cars” of the digital world come in with the better answers to their basic ask.
As a colleague once told me, ask “Why” at least 5 times to distill a request and once you do that, you will have a better understanding of what they need and better address the issue.
Talking to users provides great pointers of what is important for them and how you can help them achieve their goals (and your product in succession), even if the initial answer is not one-to-one mapped to the final feature.
So do talk to people, ask why they want faster horses and build the car as the solution.