Customer-Centric Design

This skill guides engineers and designers toward the right methodology for understanding users and validating solutions. It emphasizes solving real problems for real people.

Use-When

This skill activates when:

• Agent designs a new feature or product
• Agent asks "how do I know this is a real problem?"
• Agent needs to choose between qualitative vs quantitative research
• Agent wants to validate a design before building
• Agent asks "what metrics should I track?"
• Agent receives user feedback requesting a feature
• Agent needs to measure design impact

Core Rules

• ALWAYS validate the problem exists before designing a solution
• ALWAYS define success metrics before building
• ALWAYS choose methodology based on knowledge gap, not preference
• NEVER assume you know what users need without evidence
• ALWAYS validate design with actual users before shipping

Common Agent Mistakes

• Building features based on assumptions without problem validation
• Choosing research methods randomly instead of matching to situation
• Tracking vanity metrics that don't correlate with user success
• Skipping user validation because "it's obvious"
• Measuring activity instead of outcomes

Methodology Decision Tree

Use this decision framework to choose your approach:

Is the problem well-understood?
├── YES: Do users already complain about it?
│   ├── YES → Validate with analytics + quick usability test
│   └── NO → Optimize existing flow, measure impact
└── NO: Is this a new problem space?
    ├── YES → Qualitative research (interviews, observations)
    └── UNCERTAIN → Hybrid: qualitative discovery + quantitative validation

Examples

✅ Correct

// Before: Validating the problem exists
// Step 1: Talk to 5 customers about the pain point
// Step 2: Check support tickets for related issues
// Step 3: Analyze product analytics for drop-off points

// Step 4: Define success metrics BEFORE building
const successMetrics = {
  leading: "time-to-complete",    // What we can move
  lagging: "completion-rate",     // The outcome
  guardrail: "error-rate",        // What we must not hurt
}

// Step 5: Validate with prototype before full build
// Run usability test with 5 users on Figma prototype

❌ Wrong

// Wrong: Building without problem validation
// "Users probably want dark mode, let's add it"

// Wrong: Choosing methodology arbitrarily
// "Let's run a survey" (when you need deep understanding)

// Wrong: Vanity metrics
analytics.track("button-clicks")  // Activity, not outcome

// Wrong: No validation before shipping
// "It looks good, let's ship and see what happens"

References

• The Mom Test - Customer conversations
• Inspired: How to Create Products
• Google HEART Framework
• Lean Analytics