Imagine you are trying to arrange for a get together with 20 other friends.
And you are responsible for deciding the date and time. So you set out to decide a certain date and time and then share it with everyone, asking “is everyone ok with this?”
And the barrage of reactions start. I am ok. I am ok. I am ok. And then somewhere down this stream, someone says, “can we change it to xyz.”
That’s the first instance of something valuable, right? Because you now know what to fix?
Imagine, you are trying to get feedback n your newly launched product.
You go to all your customers and ask them, “do you like the product?”
Most of them say yes. Until someone says, “actually no. And here is why.”
That’s the first instance of valuable feedback.
It is evident that what we are solving for is the exception. The small percentage that doesn’t agree with us.
And yet, what we ask for, is consensus.
We ask for how many agree with us, when what is useful is the small percentage that doesn’t agree with us.
“Is there anyone for whom this date and time doesn’t work?”
“Is there anyone for whom this product doesn’t work?”
Seek the exceptions. Because that’s what you have to solve for.