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# 1.1.1 - If You Can't Name the User, You're Guessing What They Want
- URL: https://vibe2value.com/if-you-cant-name-the-user-youre-guessing/
- Published: 2026-01-06T11:12:26.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-07T08:44:52.000Z
- Description: Name the user definition: say who the user is, what starts the need and what result they are trying to reach.
- Author: vibe2value
- Tags: shape, problem, user, clarity, finding focus, shape+build+launch+run+close, #qa

## Outcome

Get the user right and every later decision gets easier. Scope, priorities, success criteria, what to leave out and the prompts you give AI all flow from it. If the user stays vague, every decision gets softer. AI then generates plausible options for an abstract audience instead of helping solve one real problem for one real person.

## User definition

Can we name the user clearly before we decide what to build?

## The call

Name the user first. Otherwise AI speeds up guesswork instead of solving a real problem.

## What you are making

You are making your **user definition**: a short text file called `user.md` that you keep in your project and give to your AI as the brief. It is just three lines:

```
User:    [one real person]
Trigger: [what starts their need]
Outcome: [what they want to reach]
```

Your AI builds from these three lines, so getting them right up front is what makes the result hold up instead of breaking on the first change.

**How to do it**

1. Write your three lines using the template above.
2. Sharpen them with AI until two people would make the same decision from them.
3. Save the three lines as `user.md` and use it as your brief from here on.

Prefer to let your AI do this with you? The next section shows how, with the exact prompt for ChatGPT or Claude.

## Sharpen the user definition with AI

This is a Shape idea, so the AI move is to **Sharpen** the user definition: run your draft through the prompt below until two people would make the same decision from it. Build and Launch ideas have their own AI moves, building and running the code.

**New here? Let your AI do this with you.** Paste your problem into [Guide me](https://vibe2value.com/guide-me/) and it builds a prompt that walks you through this in ChatGPT or Claude. You do not need to know how to prompt.

Prefer to drive the AI yourself? Give ChatGPT or Claude this page and ask it to help. For skill.txt, the Claude Code plugin and other ways in, see [how to use vibe2value](https://vibe2value.com/how-to-use/).

Or copy this prompt into AI chat, replace the bracketed lines with your real user definition and keep the instruction exactly as visible here. It refines your three lines until two people would make the same product decision from them.

```
You are checking whether this user definition is clear enough before you move forward.

Constraint:
The user definition must be specific enough that two people would make the same product decision from it.

Example of the standard:
Vague: "This is for people who want help writing more often."
Sharp: "This is for someone who does work worth writing about and publishes in bursts, because the insight lands mid-task and the work always wins."
The sharp version is specific enough that two people would make the same product decision. The vague one is not.

Working draft:
User: [name one real user]
Trigger: [what starts the need]
Outcome: [what they are trying to reach]

Task:
Decide whether this user definition is specific enough that two people would make the same product decision. If it already is, say so. If it is vague, rewrite it to meet the standard in the example above.

Check:
- Would two people interpret this the same way?
- Does it stay concrete enough to guide the next step?
- Can you state who the user is, what starts the need and what result they are trying to reach?

Return:
- Verdict: clear, or needs work
- The corrected three lines, or the original three if already clear
- What was vague, and the one change that fixed it
```

Copy this into AI chat. Replace the bracketed parts. Keep the rest unchanged. AI will likely suggest refinements based on what you enter. Use those to sharpen your thinking, not replace it.

Naming a user you cannot yet describe is the moment to have the AI interview you rather than answer you. That is [Interview me](https://vibe2value.com/interview-me/), one of the ways to get to a sharp answer.

## The same idea on a recipe card

Imagine a recipe that just says "cook something for hungry people." It tells the cook nothing. How many plates? How spicy? Any allergies? Now imagine it says "cook for my friend, who is vegetarian and arrives starving after a long drive and wants something warm and filling." That tells the cook exactly what to make. Two cooks reading it would both make a hearty veg stew, not a light salad.

Your user is the person you are cooking for. Name one real person (the friend), what made them hungry (a long drive) and what they want (something warm and filling). Get those three right and two people would build the same thing from them, the same way two cooks would make the same dish.

The recipe card is just a simple example, using everyday cooking ideas everyone understands, to make the concept clear. See [the recipe card](https://vibe2value.com/project/recipecard/).

## What it really means

A user definition is not a market segment. It is one real user, the trigger that starts their need and the outcome they are trying to reach. Until you can state all three in plain language, the brief is too soft. AI can generate options, but it cannot choose the right boundary without a clear user.

## Make the user definition concrete

Compare the broad version with a version you can actually test.

- **Too vague:** This is for people who want help writing more often.
- **Concrete enough to test:** This is for someone who does work worth writing about and publishes in bursts, because the insight lands mid-task and the work always wins.

The second version lets two people make the same product decision from it.

Both versions come from **consideredContent**, the one project carried through all 35 ideas. [See the project](https://vibe2value.com/project/considered-content/).

A broad audienceanyone who wants to write morename oneOne real usersomeone whose insights get lost

A user definition earns its keep by naming one real person, not a crowd. "Anyone who wants to write more" gives you nothing to build for; "someone whose insights get lost before they are written up" tells you exactly who to design for.

## Check the user definition

- **Pass:** You can say who the user is, what starts the need and what result they are trying to reach.
- **Fail:** The statement still sounds like a broad audience or a generic need.

Do not move into feature, scope or prototype work until this passes.

## Write it down

Your `user.md` is a real file in your project. The AI forgets everything between sessions. It reads this file each time to pick up what you already decided, on this idea or another part of the build. Write it down once instead of explaining it again.

`knowledge-base/framework/shape/user.md` is just a suggested name and place for this information. The name and the location are just how we organise this type of documentation, not something you have to follow. Call the file and put it wherever suits your project. What matters is that it is written down in a format that is easily understood by both people and the AI.

The `.md` ending is markdown, a plain text format often used for documents kept in a code repository like GitHub. It is just the common way people store this kind of writing alongside their code.

Writing it down is how you keep good context for your AI. See [Keep the signal, not the noise](https://vibe2value.com/your-context/) for why this matters across a whole build.

## When there is more than one user

Not every product has a single user. When a system serves more than one side, each side needs its own user definition or the one you write will quietly exclude the other. More on this in [Multi-Sided Systems Blur Faster](https://vibe2value.com/multi-sided-systems-blur-faster/).

## Risk and mitigation

- **Risk:** The user keeps being described as a generic audience, so AI-generated options feel productive while pushing the product toward ambiguity.
- **Mitigation:** Require one named user, one concrete trigger and one measurable outcome before approving new scope. If a feature cannot be explained through that lens, it does not move forward.

## Key takeaway

Do not move forward until you can say who the user is, what starts the need and what result they are trying to reach.

## How to document your user definition

Once your three lines are sharp, write the user definition up in full so your AI has the whole picture: the answer, why you believe it, what you are optimising for, where you might be wrong and the standing instruction it should follow. Keep it in a file with your project like this.

```
# User definition

## Answer
User: [name one real user]
Trigger: [what starts the need]
Outcome: [what they are trying to reach]

## Evidence
Why you believe this. Conversations, examples, tickets, your own experience.

## Decision
What you are optimising for and what you are saying no to.

## Risk
Where you might be wrong and what would tell you.

## AI instruction
The standing note your AI reads on this project.
```

Here is one filled in so you can see what good looks like, grounded in the recipe card idea from earlier.

```
## Answer
User: My friend
Trigger: They arrive starving after a long drive
Outcome: Something warm and filling to eat

## Evidence
The last three visits they turned up late, tired and hungry and went straight for the fridge. They never want to wait or cook.

## Decision
Optimising for warm and filling. Saying no to light, healthy, quick or fancy. One hearty bowl beats three clever small plates.

## Risk
They might have eaten on the road and want something light. If they say they are not that hungry when they arrive, switch to a smaller dish.

## AI instruction
Cooking for my friend, who arrives starving after a long drive and wants something warm and filling. Keep every choice warm and filling, not light or fancy. If that changes, check with me first.
```