Stories that people tell about products are invaluable

I was listening to a Dave Snowden talk today, and this bit jumped out:

We're capturing 150,000 stories a week from people as they consume a product. Because the stories that people tell as they have an experience are far more significant than customer satisfaction surveys.

Also this:

What people love... is numbers backed up by stories--numbers on their own, stories on their own have deficiencies. But numbers backed up by stories is quite powerful.

This idea--capturing & sorting stories from users to see how products are doing and how they can be improved--is something I've been messing with a bit, and it's good to hear that this isn't brand-new.

complexity, narrative, product management, sensemaking