Go ahead - ask people what they want - Richard Anderson - Medium

By the way, I asked Don Norman to react to my post. Here is how he responded via email:

“​You are correct. the statement “don’t ask people what they want” is dramatic, but overstated. It should be, do ask people what they want, but don’t take their word for it. If you have an established product, their wants can lead you to important new insights. If you have a very new product, their wants reflect their experience today and cannot be relied upon. Here is where you need observation to understand the tasks they perform, where you, the expert observer, can discover needs they never realized — that is, until you point them out.”