design - How can I think like a user? -

We are deep in a project right now, programs are tight (but reasonable). Our general strategy is to get a strong beta, to release it for testing and to get feedback from our testers.

Many times, we have little things that are spiral in long, time-consuming discussions. Boil them all in one thing: As long as we know what features we need, we are having trouble in a little bit, such as' where should this message go 'and' they need this reaction immediately, or is it They will break their flow, so why should we stop? '

These are all things that our testers should catch, but

A) Like every 'low priority', bugs do the drains of time with important issues

B) We want to make a strong product as possible

and

c) Even the best test groups will also remember things from time to time.

We use our product, and we know how our users use the old version ... but we all are at a loss, as if a user feels like that We try to use the new version (which has significant graphical as well as built-in change).

Editing - A little more background:

We are writing a web app used by a widely distributed base of users. Our app is a big part of their job, but the biggest (and, of course, when we do not work, we only talk to them). It is difficult to get real users to use our product, because we are far from the geographically distant location, which acts as an end user (we are in Ohio, and I think the closest places we are to It is 3+ hours away). / P>

The closest we can get is our customer service team (which are helping a lot, really) but they do not really think like users, they also work as our testers ( It actually inspires them to find bugs when they know that they can not find what they are searching for, the number of calls can be a big exception) we have three (approximately 12 total) customers Or representatives, who were doing some initial tests last week ... they have also joined the discussion.

Viewing someone using the app is a big advantage for me, Not fully familiar about.

How they are trying to navigate, how they try to enter information or size windows. After making hours, the items given after running / running of the application, day after day

Users will always try things that you never expected and can come to light in seeing them in action so that you can change something that could have been considered a minor, but in reality They have a big impact on them.