Notice that the author doesn't say "do what your users tell you to do", but "find out what they need and what they experience as problematic". Any user researc

Notice that the author doesn't say "do what your users tell you to do", but "find out what they need and what they experience as problematic". Any user research will involve interacting with users, but it's not to gather their opinions, which is almost always irrelevant, but to document their behavior, needs and drives. Users will offer solutions, because that comes naturally, but these need to be turned back into problems before being used. For example, User: "I want a big button in the middle of the screen that says 'print' and then prints my stuff immediately!" Researcher:"So you print a lot during your day?" User: "Yeah, and each time I have to go down a long list of menus, and then I have to reselect the printer each time." Apple has apparently been able to get by with user studies done on a target group of one (Jobs). However, he's not there any more, and the more time that passes, the more it seems that they haven't been able to fill his shoes.