Get Out Of The Building

Why "Get Out Of The Building" is Important in Product Management

"Get Out Of The Building" is a crucial practice in product management because it helps product managers avoid building products based on assumptions or guesswork. By directly interacting with customers in their natural environments, product managers can:

1. Gain authentic insights into user needs and pain points
2. Validate or disprove product hypotheses
3. Discover unexpected use cases or requirements
4. Build empathy with users, leading to better product decisions

How to Implement "Get Out Of The Building"

To effectively "Get Out Of The Building," product managers should:

1. Schedule regular customer visits or interviews
2. Observe users in their natural work or living environments
3. Conduct field studies or ethnographic research
4. Attend industry events or trade shows to meet potential users
5. Use techniques like contextual inquiry to understand user workflows

Examples of "Get Out Of The Building" in Action

1. A product manager for a healthcare app shadowing nurses during their shifts to understand their workflow and pain points
2. An automotive designer visiting car dealerships to observe how customers interact with different vehicle features
3. A software company conducting on-site interviews with small business owners to validate assumptions about their inventory management needs
4. A product team for a fitness wearable joining group workouts to experience how users interact with their devices during exercise

Frequently Asked Questions

• What's the origin of "Get Out Of The Building"?: The phrase was popularized by Steve Blank, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and academic, as part of his Customer Development methodology.
• How often should product managers "Get Out Of The Building"?: It's recommended to do this regularly, ideally spending 20-30% of your time interacting directly with customers or users.
• Can "Get Out Of The Building" be done remotely?: While in-person interactions are ideal, virtual customer interviews or remote observation sessions can be effective alternatives when physical visits aren't possible.
• What's the difference between "Get Out Of The Building" and market research?: "Get Out Of The Building" focuses on direct, qualitative interactions with individual users, while market research often involves broader, quantitative data collection methods.