Journal · 2026-02-04
Adoption questions worth asking at kickoff
Five concrete questions that keep an adoption assessment from drifting into general product advice.
Kickoff calls go sideways when everyone brings a different meaning of “adoption.” The fix is not a glossary slide—it is a short set of questions that force shared answers.
Which action, if completed, would make you comfortable saying a new account has arrived? Activation is a door, not a mood. Write the door down.
Which three features earn their place on the home screen, and which survive only because someone lobbied for them last year? Honesty here prevents weeks of measuring the wrong surface.
Where do support tickets mention workarounds that already solve the job your new feature intends to own? Those workarounds are competing products living inside your own product.
Who on the customer side teaches others how to use the tool? If that person never appears in your usage extracts, your reporting is missing the teachers.
What would you stop building if the assessment showed the feature already reaches its intended cohort? Assessments matter only when findings can cancel work, not only start it.