I am co-opting a question Mathias Meyer asked on twitter. The question, from what I can tell, came after reading the latest on Silicon Valley Myopia/Self-Centeredness. We in the tech industry, myself included, seem to have traded opportunities to use technologies that we love to solve non-problems or create more in the process.
Mike Montiero, who is the author of one of the articles that Mathias links to, also did a fantastic talk at Webstock which I encourage everyone to watch. Though the title might make it sound specific to designers, what I took away from the talk was that everyone that is involved in the product design process should be the biggest advocate of the users. If what's best for the users diverges from what's best for the product or the company, then it's a good sign that you are not solving the right problem