[week 3] Dia: Talking to users

2025-07-28

Originally, I planned to write about the MVP.
But midway through, I realized something more important: talking to users.
I’d lost sight of that for a moment—this past week was about correcting course.

Here’s what I learned and what’s ahead.

🧠 Finding #1: Avoid the FFF Trap

I started with FFF: Friends, Family, and Fools.
That was a mistake.

The signal is too noisy. The feedback lacks depth or relevance.
Instead, I should be speaking with power users and early adopters—the productivity freaks.

These are the people who’ve tried every planning app, tweaked every method, and stress-tested countless systems.
They don’t just have opinions—they have pain. And that’s where insight lives.

🔥 Finding #2: Pain Is the North Star

I initially asked:

Are you planning your day already?

Some people don’t plan—and don’t want to. Others do—but feel no need to change.

Instead, I now ask:

Is planning painful for you?

Whether they plan or not doesn’t matter.
What matters is whether their current system frustrates them.
Now I ask: “On a scale of 1–5, how painful is your current planning process?”

Pain is the signal. Pain is the metric.

🤹‍♂️ The User vs. Product Dilemma

For Dia to succeed, I need to obsess equally over:

The user
The product

Building? I love.
Selling? I dread. (Like most of us.)

So when do I shift between them?
Or should I always be doing both?

I don’t have the perfect answer yet—but I’m exploring two approaches.

💡 Idea #1: Batching

Talk to users until 9 join the waitlist
Build the MVP
Notify the list
Fill 9 slots
Work closely with those users
Improve the product
Repeat with the next batch—maybe 19 this time.

💡 Idea #2: Continuous Selling

Talking to users is hard.
It’s time-consuming. Emotionally taxing. Full of rejection.
But it’s essential.

So I’m experimenting with a micro-habit:

Talk to users first thing every morning. That’s it.

To make it sustainable, here’s how I’m approaching it:

🧪 Productivity Hack #1: Build Habits That Stick

Keep it light
As Paco Cantero said: motivation must stay high, stress must stay low.
I’ll assign a short time block—no pressure.
Timebox it
Instead of “talk to 5 people,” I’ll commit to a fixed amount of time.
As Dr. J.S. Virk pointed out: when success is tied to outcomes, inconsistency follows.
Time is the only currency we all share—manage that instead.
[Bonus] Anchor it
I’ll pair the habit with something I already do—like after my morning meditation.

⏳ My Plan

Week 1: 15 minutes/day
Week 2: 20 minutes/day
Week 3: 25 minutes/day
Then: Reassess

My theory?
Undercommitting leads to overdelivery.
I’ll report back in a few weeks.

🧪 [Bonus] Productivity Hack #2: Half-Planning the Day

Besides documenting the Dia journey, I also want to share personal productivity tactics.

Here’s one I’ve started using:

Each morning, I log:

Start time
My intended end time
Total available hours (e.g. 7h)
And I only plan for half of that (e.g. 3.5h)

I also note my energy level (1–10).

Why?
To become more thoughtful about what truly shapes the day.

📌 Dia Weekly Objectives

Previous Week

✅ ~~Talked to FFF potential users~~
✅ ~~Talked to productivity freaks~~

This Week

🟥 Talk to productivity freaks (potential power users) 15 minutes a day
🟥 Finalize dev plan for the week (will cover in detail in the next blog post)

🤔 What About You?

Have you tried batching? Or daily micro-habits for user outreach?
What worked? What didn’t?

I’d love to learn from your experience. Email me at (tomas@heydia.app).

Until next week—
Let’s keep building.
With users in mind.