Me & My Shadow – A technique to understand our customer

Goal: Identify Customers’ Hidden Needs

Designers have a wealth of ideas on how their products can and should be used. To learn about customers, we need to watch our customer using our product on their terms, not on our terms.

Me & my shadow is the game of observing our customer while they use our product or service. Literally, sit next to them and watch what they do. This technique is one of many that falls under the broad category of ethnographic research. Ethnographic research is an incredibly powerful way of understanding our customer. Periodically ask them “Why are you doing that?” and “What are you thinking?” Take along a camera or camcorder and record key activities. Ask for copies of important artifacts created or used by your customer while they are doing the work.

Though it is one of the effective techniques, it comes with a catch: It is very hard to observe our customer in such a way that our observations do not change the way they work, kind of like the Heisenberg principle applied to people. That is the reason why the name of this game emphasizes thinking of our self as a shadow of the customer, so that we can minimize any negative interactions caused by our observations.

Sophisticated applications of this technique are based on specially selected customers being asked to perform activities while being studied in specially constructed observation rooms. While this can be an extraordinary way to uncover hidden requirements, the process is expensive and the setting tends to be artificial. Me and My Shadow works best when we can observe your customer in their native habitat.