The goal of study groups is not to solve problems immediately but to practice empathy for the customer and understand their journey through the product.

At Stripe, we use 'study groups' to enhance product understanding. These groups consist of random employees who role-play as customers to identify pain points in the user experience.

At Stripe, we practice empathy through 'study groups' where we simulate being a company facing specific challenges, without actually solving any problems.

After conducting over 25 study groups, we've found that they provide valuable insights and have become popular within the company, leading to a backlog of requests for new study groups.

The outputs from study groups are integrated into existing processes for addressing bugs and issues, ensuring that valuable feedback is acted upon without creating new bureaucratic hurdles.

Founders are encouraged to gain firsthand experience in customer-facing roles, such as working in call centers, to better understand their users' needs. I think the best way to deeply understand someone's problem is to do the job directly, like a medical biller did by working in the field while developing software.

When team members from different departments conduct 'walk the store' exercises, they provide valuable feedback on user experiences, highlighting issues that those deeply involved in the product might overlook.

To truly understand how people interact with software, we need to observe them using it in real-world scenarios, similar to how filmmakers and comedians study their audiences.

You must give your product to customers who resemble your target audience; this is a crucial step in testing your product.