Looking for the signs

Users are often not able to tell you the full story. They may take some aspects for granted. Don't be afraid of asking obvious questions. People like to talk about what they do, and you may discover that some of your assumptions were not exactly as you expected.

In many activities, there may also be a gap

It is also important to look for clues in the environment. For example, a user making use of a post-it to keep some information may indicate the lack of a more convenient way to move information around. Users may not even notice the problem if they have found a workaround, but fixing it with your better solution will make the experience much more fluent.