Watch What They Do
Inspired by on Lenny's Podcast
Your child says they love broccoli. Your child has never actually eaten broccoli. One of these is data.
Teresa Torres is emphatic: product teams are in the business of changing behavior, not collecting opinions. Focus on what people actually did, not what they think they would do or why they think they did something. It's all unreliable.
This is profoundly true with children.
Your toddler says they want the blue cup. You give them the blue cup. They scream. They wanted the green cup. What they said and what they wanted were completely different things.
Your kid says they'll clean their room after this show. They've said this forty-seven times. They have never once cleaned their room after the show. Their words and their behavior exist in separate universes.
The real measure is behavior. What did they actually do? What happened right before the meltdown? What were they doing when they were happiest?
Watch the patterns. Listen to the actions, not the words. Your child is showing you who they are and what they need - but they're showing you in behavior, not in sentences. Train yourself to observe.
PM Theme: Observing behavior vs listening to words
Parenting Theme: Understanding your child
“Product people are in the business of changing behavior, understanding and changing behavior. I think that's a really big mistake that teams make is, both in their prototype tests and in their interviews, they focus on what people would do, on what people think, on why they think they do something. It's all really unreliable.”Teresa Torres · 00:40:25
