The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick

Ask about the last time, not the next time, and discount every compliment.

Three takeaways for AI PMs

• Ask about the last time, not the next time
• Discount compliments, fluff and feature ideas: A customer saying they love it, that they would definitely use it, or that you should add something is giving you emotion, not evidence.
• End with a commitment or log it as a chat: Interest is cheap; time, reputation and money are not.

Do this Monday

• Before your next customer call, rewrite every question on the guide so it starts with tell me about the last time, and delete any that mention your feature.
• After that call, spend ten minutes tagging each note as fact, compliment, fluff or idea, and count how many facts you actually collected.
• Before pasting transcripts into an AI summariser this week, paste the discussion guide first and ask it to flag every leading question.