I don’t think there is even one Product Manager out there who doesn’t know deep down that the very first step to creating successful software is research. Those Product Managers who concentrate on the marketing side have even less of an excuse to ignore the axiom that before you write a single line of code, make sure you find out what your customers really want.

So why is it that Product Managers everywhere fail to follow this cardinal rule? Too many of us in product management approach research into what potential customers want from our software with the same dread as a root canal. You’re not sure exactly how to carry it out. What’s more, you’re sure that you could never justify to the management team the effort and expense required to conduct that research right.

Fortunately, there’s a middle ground between full-blown research using focus groups observed behind mirrors, interviews of thousands of people, statistical sampling, — and doing nothing. There are a few simple efforts you can undertake, aided by recent technology, to get a good reading on what customers and prospects want, in order to ensure that you invest your development dollars wisely. Here are a few ideas.