I've been working in the UX realm for a while now. I've refined my understanding of this (paradoxical?) problem as such: Listen to the customers, hear out what

I've been working in the UX realm for a while now. I've refined my understanding of this (paradoxical?) problem as such: Listen to the customers, hear out what features they want. Learn how they use the existing features. Observe your competitors, and how their products are used. Understand the general "spirit" underlying the specifics. Design and implement a feature set that best satisfies the spirit, and touches upon some of the specific requests.