Tools

Free checks
on your product

Pick the one that matches what you’re stuck on. Each asks you a few multiple-choice questions and gives you a straight answer, not a score, not a report you have to interpret.

Questions

Before you start.

Are these really free?

Yes. No account, no email, no trial that turns into something. There’s nothing to buy at the end of them.

They exist because the questions inside are the ones I ask in the first twenty minutes of any project, and there’s no reason to charge for the first twenty minutes.

Where do my answers go?

Nowhere. Everything runs in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server, nothing is stored, and I never see what you clicked, which also means your result disappears when you close the tab.

How accurate is the answer?

Treat it as a strong opinion from somebody who has made the same call before, not a diagnosis. A handful of questions cannot know your product.

What it’s genuinely good at is stopping you from fixing the wrong thing. Most wasted quarters are not bad execution — they’re excellent execution pointed at the wrong problem.

Why is nobody using my product?

There are five common reasons and in analytics they look identical: nobody saw it; they saw it and did not understand what it was; they understood it and did not need it; they needed it but moving off what they use today was too much work; or they tried it and it’s not good enough yet.

The fixes point in opposite directions. More traffic only helps the first one, a better product only helps the last one, which is why guessing is expensive. The first check tells you which one you’re in.

How do I know if user feedback is real?

Four things separate evidence from good manners. Did they say it before you showed them your solution, or after? Do they already have a workaround they dislike? Have they done the thing again without you in the room? Can you name a second person who asked, unprompted?

Enthusiasm after a demo, with no workaround and no repeat use, is a no wearing better clothes.

How do I decide if a feature is worth building?

Look at who asked and whether it was unprompted, what those people do about it today, and what measurably happens if you never build it.

Several users who each built their own ugly workaround is a need. One loud voice with no workaround behind it’s a preference, and preferences do not belong on a roadmap.

Can I use these with my team?

Please do — that’s the best use of them. Two people running the same check separately and comparing answers surfaces disagreements that meetings usually bury.

Screenshot anything you want to put on a wall or in a doc. No permission needed.