This will probably piss off some of you, but:

Those 2-hour user interviews you’re doing? They’re killing your product.

Last month I talked to another founder who was about to launch a new feature. The design looked clean. Developers already estimated 2 months of work. The stakeholders loved it in the design review.

He told me he’s not convinced that this feature works, but wasn’t sure how to tell the team without a good reason.

I suggested to do a short 15-minute user test together.

Turns out, he was about to waste $40,000 on a solution nobody would use. Not because it looked bad – it looked fantastic. But because he fundamentally misunderstood how users think about his product category.

Crisis averted.

The funny thing? Most teams skip testing altogether. According to a recent study by the Nielsen Norman Group, 85% of UX problems can be found with just 5 test users.

But here’s where it gets interesting: The same teams that skip testing will spend weeks in “design sprints”, months in “discovery phases”, and hours in “stakeholder interviews”.

They’re basically throwing darts in the dark, hoping to hit something valuable.

I get it. Traditional user testing feels heavy:

• Finding the right users (takes forever)
• Scheduling calls (good luck with timezones)
• Preparing discussion guides (that you’ll barely use)
• Running long sessions (that bore everyone)
• Writing extensive reports (that nobody reads)

F*ck that.

Today I’ll show you the exact process I use to test critical features in 15 minutes for my agency clients. No BS, no fancy tools, no expensive user research platforms.

Just you, a prototype, and real insights that save you from building the wrong thing.

Want to save your team from wasting months of development time? Keep reading.

The Problem: Typical research takes f*cking long

After 7+ years of designing products for startups and scale-ups, I’ve noticed a pattern that keeps repeating itself:

Teams are terrified of user testing.

And I get why. It takes really long, and there is a chance you don’t get the certainty you are looking for.

Traditional user testing looks like for most teams:

• 2 weeks to find “the right users”
• Another week to schedule calls
• 1-2 hours per interview
• 5-6 users minimum
• A fancy research plan nobody reads
• A 20-page report that gets buried in Notion

By the time you get any insights, the developers already built the feature.

But here’s what’s actually killing products: Teams replace proper user testing with their favorite form of self-deception: Stakeholder feedback.

“The CEO loves it!” “Design team approved!” “Devs think it’s clean!”

None of these people are your users. And honestly? Their opinion doesn’t matter. (It does, but in a different context)

Years ago, I learned this the hard way while designing a new analytics dashboard for a B2B tool. The stakeholders were in love with our designs. Leadership praised the clean data visualization.

But when we finally showed it to users (after 4 weeks of development), they couldn’t even find their basic metrics. The whole information architecture was built around how WE thought about data, not how THEY used it.

That project? It died. Not because the code was bad or the design wasn’t pretty. But because we built something nobody asked for.

This is where my 15-minute user test framework comes in.

The 15-Minute Framework

This framework is not perfect. It’s not comprehensive. But it’s fast enough that you’ll actually do it, and powerful enough to catch the big f*ck-ups before they cost you money.

Setting Up The Perfect Test

Here’s all you need:

• Figma prototype (or even just designs)
• Zoom
• 15 minutes
• 1 user

That’s it. No fancy lab setup. No eye-tracking software. No bullshit.

“But Nik, what about proper research environments?” Please. Users will use your product while sitting on the toilet, in a noisy coffee shop, or during their kid’s soccer practice. A messy Zoom call is more realistic than your fancy research lab.

The Only 5 Questions You Need

Here’s the script I like to use when testing new features quickly:

1. “What do you think you’re looking at?” (Shut up and let them talk. The first 30 seconds tell you if your design makes any sense at all.)
2. “How would you usually do this?” (This is gold. Users will tell you about their current workflows, which you can either support or improve.)
3. “What would you expect to happen next?” (If they expect something different than what you designed, you’re about to waste dev time.)
4. “What’s missing here?” (They’ll tell you what features actually matter, not what the stakeholders think matters.)
5. “What would make you leave?” (The most important question. It shows you what will actually kill your product.)

That’s it. No “how would you rate this design from 1-10” bullshit. No “what do you think about the color scheme” nonsense.

Recruiting Users Fast

Here’s what I tell every client: Message 5 of your power users right now with this exact text:

“Hey! We’re designing some new features. Got 15 minutes to help us not f*ck it up? We’ll send you a $25 Amazon gift card.”

And!! And:

Most of the time, users even agree without any incentive, because they want to help!

Last time I did this, we had 3 calls scheduled within an hour.

“But what if we don’t have users yet?” Message people who use your competitors. They’re literally one LinkedIn search away. And trust me, they love to complain about existing tools.

The Real Magic: Stakeholder Reactions

Here’s where it gets fun. When a real user struggles with your design, stakeholders can’t hide behind their opinions anymore.

You know what’s better than me arguing with stakeholders? Watching a user get frustrated with their “perfect” solution.

Remember: Every hour you spend in “design reviews” with stakeholders is an hour you could have spent learning from real users.

Common Pitfalls (I See These Every Week)

1. The Explanation Trap
   Stop explaining your design during the test. If you have to explain it, it’s already broken.
2. The Feature Defense
   When users criticize something, don’t defend your choices. Write it down and ask “why?”
3. The Scope Creep
   Keep it to 15 minutes. The moment you go longer, you’ll start getting bullshit feedback to fill the time.
4. The Wrong Users
   Testing with your team, friends, or that one guy who “knows a lot about design” is useless. Find real users.
5. The Perfectionism Loop
   Your prototype doesn’t need to be perfect. If users hate it, you just saved yourself from polishing a turd.

Final Thoughts

Don’t get me wrong, 90-min user interviews do make sense, but very often a 15-min user test gets you enough clarity and confidence to ship.

In the end, the most expensive design isn’t the one that takes long to build. It’s the one that gets built and never gets used.

15 minutes of testing beats 15 days of pixel-pushing every single time.