1. You don't know what you've got til it's gone - Joni Mitchell

If you want to understand what people value about something, don’t ask them about it. Take it away.

If you want to know how someone feels about HP Sauce, don’t give them HP Sauce and ask them to extol its virtues. You’ll get a stream of nonsense as the respondent grapples for something meaningful and interesting to say.

Instead, take the HP sauce away and ask them how they feel about their bacon sandwich. “It’s dry”, they’ll say. “The bacon tastes fatty”. “It just tastes a bit flat”.

Sometimes, insight is implicit rather than direct. And when it is, it’s frequently more revealing.