Building a product is more than just coding or designing. It's about solving real problems. The most effective way to create an exceptional product is to become its first user.

When we are the first user of a product, we experience the product's raw potential and limitations firsthand. Every friction point becomes immediately apparent. We'll understand what works and what doesn't, experiencing the user journey in its most authentic form. When we are the first user of the product, empathy becomes our most powerful design tool.

This direct experience allows us to:

• Eliminate unnecessary features that sound good in theory but add no real value
• Identify critical functionality that might have been overlooked during planning
• Create intuitive user interfaces by understanding genuine user interactions
• Develop a product that genuinely solves a problem, not just one that seems theoretically interesting

There is a saying in the start up world: great products are created by founders who experienced the problem personally. When the problem is personal, those founders tend to be the first user for the product they are building. Since they will be using the product they are building, they will be able to provide feedback on how well the product solves the problem.

I will also make a bold claim that most of the enterprise products are not used by their designers and product teams on a regular basis (some times never used at all). They are not the first user for their own products. They don't experience the product enough to tell how effective the product is solving the problem. This is one of the main reasons why enterprise software is clunky and does not have great user experience.

I have successfully used the first user principle in the products I have built. It is a great way to build exceptional products. I cannot recommend it enough.

Notes:

• What I am sharing in this article is a principle. If there is a team building a product, everyone in the team should play the role of first user.
• First user principle can be applied to building products, as well as incremental feature additions. The bottom line is to have a first hand experience of what you are building.