One of the habits I’ve found invaluable as a product person is simply watching customers use products in their natural environments.

I often find myself on the sidelines of a rugby game, noticing parents streaming content on their phones—maybe a mum catching up on her favourite show on Binge, or a dad watching condensed sports replays on Kayo Sports. It’s fascinating to casually observe how they navigate these apps, which features they gravitate towards, and how the product performs on their device. Sometimes, I’ll even strike up a conversation, asking what they think about the service, what they enjoy, and if they have any frustrations—all without revealing my connection to the product.

I’ve learned that when customers don’t know who you are, they speak with a refreshing honesty. They’ll happily tell you what they love, what they hate, and even which competitors they think are doing a better job. And while it’s always tempting to say, “I actually helped build that,” I’ve found it’s far more valuable to listen and let their raw experience do the talking.

This kind of real-world observation can give you clearer, faster insights than a lab-based usability test. It’s informal, low-pressure, and incredibly human.

And it’s not just your own product you should be watching. I once spent time watching a dad onboard himself to a competitor’s product while sitting beside his daughter at a game. I noticed exactly what delighted him, what confused him, and where he hesitated. That one moment clarified a product requirement that we’d been debating internally for weeks. Observing people engage with competitor products helps you see what’s missing in your own and what “delight” actually looks like in the wild.

When we were designing the checkout for Hubbl, we applied the same approach—observing how customers navigated complex sign-up flows across various industries, especially in telco. These field studies helped us shape a cleaner, more intuitive checkout experience. Watching real users solve problems helped us shortcut assumptions and get closer to what people actually needed.

Looking back, I feel lucky to have worked in categories like streaming and telco where this kind of fly-on-the-wall research is accessible. But I also believe product people in any industry can build this muscle. You don’t need a lab, a research script, or a clipboard. You just need curiosity, patience, and a willingness to sit quietly on the sidelines.

Because when you do, you’ll see something more important than a funnel stat or an NPS score—you’ll see real people, with real needs, trying to get real stuff done.

And that’s the kind of insight that changes how you build.

‍