5.8 KiB
5.8 KiB
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Overview
Project Plan
Workflows
Current
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<h1 id="user-content-interview-checklist" dir="auto">Interview Checklist</h1>
<hr>
<h5 id="user-content-related-documents" dir="auto">Related documents:</h5>
<ul dir="auto">
<li><a href="/Suborbital-Systems/ReadySetGit/src/commit/7f3bec4bb3bbdb118f3c6b0b8f5f5f7638854ce6/user-needs.html">User Needs</a></li>
<li><a href="/Suborbital-Systems/ReadySetGit/src/commit/7f3bec4bb3bbdb118f3c6b0b8f5f5f7638854ce6/interview-notes.html">Interview Notes</a></li>
</ul>
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<p dir="auto"><strong>Process impact:</strong> This checklist will help you plan customer
interviews.</p>
<h3 id="user-content-pre-interview-checklist" dir="auto">Pre-Interview Checklist</h3>
<ol dir="auto">
<li>Decide what goals you want to accomplish</li>
<li>Prepare a list of questions
<ul dir="auto">
<li>Ask about things you know you need to find out, based on your
current understanding of the requirements</li>
<li>Keep questions simple. Don't use multi-part questions, break
complex topics into individual questions.</li>
<li>Confirm key assumptions. E.g., "You are the one who actually
would use this software, right?" "The total needs to be
displayed and updated as each item is scanned, right?"</li>
<li>Avoid leading or multiple-choice questions because the right
answer might be one that you don't know about yet. E.g., WRONG:
"Would you log in to the system from your desk here or from
home?" RIGHT: "Where are some of the places you would be sitting
when you log in?" "Here in my office, but also when I work with
others sometimes I log in from their office or from a machine in
the lab or conference room... so, I don't want a cookie saved
there."</li>
<li>Try to find out the priority of each requirement: essential,
expected, desired, or optional.</li>
<li>Write some more open-ended questions to see if new important
requirements come up.</li>
<li>Don't ask too many questions that seem out of scope, you could
accidentally change the scope or set incorrect expectations.
E.g., "Would you like the system to also do ten other cool
things?" "Sure!"</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Select interviewees that represent all important stakeholders</li>
<li>Review your questions. Do you think they can be answered? Will they
help achieve your goals? If not, go back and revise.</li>
<li>Decide whether you want to do this interview via email, telephone,
or in person</li>
<li>Schedule an interview a time and place for the
interviewee's convenience. Plan on the interview lasting one hour.</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="user-content-interview-checklist-1" dir="auto">Interview Checklist</h3>
<ol dir="auto">
<li>Be prompt, courteous, and business-like</li>
<li>Introduce yourself and explain why you are there</li>
<li>Make sure that you are interviewing the person you think you are.
Get their contact information (e.g., email address) if you don't
already have it.</li>
<li>Ask permission to take notes. Don't record or video tape.</li>
<li>Confirm the amount of time you and the interviewee have for
this session.</li>
<li>Give a quick indication of the type and number of questions that you
have</li>
<li>Work through the questions.</li>
<li>Listen. That is why you are there.</li>
<li>If the interviewee refers to existing documents, systems, equipment,
or people, make sure that you understand what he or she is
talking about. If it is important, ask if you may have a copy or
screenshot (but, don't ask for anything containing proprietary
information), or make a note of the important aspects of the items
referred to. Note the URLs of any existing public
websites discussed.</li>
<li>Try not to answer the questions yourself, or to react to interviewee
requests by making promises to solve problems. Interviews are for
understanding the problems, not solving them or setting schedules
or deliverables.</li>
<li>Write down action items to follow up on finding more information.
E.g., if the interviewee starts explaining at length something that
you know you can learn on your own, or if they don't know the answer
and start speculating at length, you should try to move on the
next question.</li>
<li>If you find that you have prepared the wrong questions, focus on
getting information that will help you prepare the right
follow-up questions.</li>
<li>Finish on time. If you need more time, continue via email or
another meeting.</li>
<li>Summarize action items that you will follow up on</li>
<li>Ask if the interviewee has any questions for you, or if there was
something more that they wanted you to ask.</li>
<li>Make sure to leave contact information</li>
<li>Thank the interviewee for their time</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="user-content-post-interview-checklist" dir="auto">Post-Interview Checklist</h3>
<ol dir="auto">
<li>Within 24 hours, read your notes and fill in any important details
that were said but not written down</li>
<li>Type up your notes so that they can be shared with the team and
archived</li>
<li>Formulate any important follow-up questions</li>
<li>Within 2-3 days, send a follow-up email message to
<ul dir="auto">
<li>Thank the interviewee again</li>
<li>Confirm that you have their correct email address, and make it
easier for them to reply to you</li>
<li>Ask any important follow-up questions</li>
<li>Give status on your action items, if any. E.g., "I searched
Google for that product you mentioned and I couldn't find a
users manual, but I did find a magazine review of it." Or,
"After I interviewed you, I spoke with Bob, and he confirmed
that some current products do cost $0.00."</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
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