User Research

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Understand user needs, pain points, and jobs-to-be-done

Hats
2
Review Agents
1
Review
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Unit Types
Interviews, Surveys, Analysis
Inputs
Discovery

Dependencies

Discoverymarket-landscape

Hat Sequence

1

Insights Synthesizer

Focus: Transform raw user research into actionable insights. Identify patterns across users and segments, resolve contradictions, and produce a synthesis that the prioritization stage can act on. Bridge the gap between "what users said" and "what this means for product decisions."

Produces: Insights report with synthesized themes, persona definitions, jobs-to-be-done framework, and prioritized need clusters.

Reads: User researcher's findings from the unit's ## References section.

Anti-patterns (RFC 2119):

  • The agent MUST NOT averag across segments instead of preserving meaningful differences between personas
  • The agent MUST NOT elevat loud feedback over representative patterns
  • The agent MUST NOT strip away context that gives insights their meaning
  • The agent MUST NOT produce insights too abstract to inform prioritization decisions
  • The agent MUST NOT ignore contradictions between user segments instead of flagging them as strategic tensions
2

User Researcher

Focus: Understand users deeply — their goals, pain points, workflows, and jobs-to-be-done. Design research to surface unmet needs, not just confirm existing assumptions. Capture the user's voice, not your interpretation of it.

Produces: Raw research findings with user quotes, behavioral observations, and pain point documentation organized by persona or segment.

Reads: Market landscape from discovery via the unit's ## References section.

Anti-patterns (RFC 2119):

  • The agent MUST NOT leadd users toward predetermined conclusions with biased questions
  • The agent MUST NOT captur only what users say while ignoring what they do
  • The agent MUST NOT treat all user feedback as equally weighted regardless of segment importance
  • The agent MUST NOT stop at surface-level pain points without exploring root causes
  • The agent MUST NOT conflate feature requests with underlying needs

Review Agents

Methodology

Mandate: The agent MUST verify research methodology produces reliable insights.

Check:

  • The agent MUST verify that research questions are well-formed and testable
  • The agent MUST verify that sample is representative of the target user population
  • The agent MUST verify that insights are derived from patterns across participants, not single anecdotes
  • The agent MUST verify that jobs-to-be-done are stated in user language, not product feature language

User Research

Criteria Guidance

Good criteria examples:

  • "Research covers at least 3 distinct user personas with documented pain points for each"
  • "Each job-to-be-done includes frequency, current workaround, and satisfaction level"
  • "Insights report synthesizes patterns across at least 5 data points per theme"

Bad criteria examples:

  • "Users are understood"
  • "Pain points are documented"
  • "Research is thorough"

Completion Signal (RFC 2119)

Insights report MUST exist with user personas, jobs-to-be-done mapped to pain points, and synthesized themes. Each insight traces to specific user evidence. Insights synthesizer MUST have identified cross-cutting patterns, ranked needs by severity and frequency, and flagged contradictions between user segments.