Lastly, here we have some more guidelines for effective interviews.
Remember the goals that are based on the pros and cons that we've just discussed.
Identify the right interviewee sample for full coverage of issues.
You shouldn't just have all end users who use the product in the same way.
You shouldn't have all managers.
Pick out a good sample range between all of your proper stakeholders.
Again, and I can't emphasize this enough.
Come prepared to focus on the right issue,
and also so that you can focus on the right issues at the right time.
Start by getting the customer very interested.
Center of the interview on the interviewees work and their concerns.
By centering your focus in that way,
they're more likely to open up and talk to you and say,
this is what we actually do,
and really work you through it.
If you're working specially in a multi-customer scenario,
keep control over the interview.
You want everyone to be engaged and every one to be contributed.
Also, make the interviewee feel comfortable.
Sometimes that may include,
Hey I brought some MOSIS to our meeting.
Other times, it's just asking
questions and showing that you really care about their job and
you want to know about what they do and how they do their work.
Break the ice, provide some motivation,
ask some easy questions.
Consider the person overall, not just the role.
Also, always appear as a trustworthy partner.
This is critical that your customers know that you are not judging them,
you are not looking at them in any weird way,
you just want to know what they want and why they want it.
Your interviewees have different responsibilities,
different expertise, different tasks,
and different exposure to problems.
Do your background study first,
then, pre-designed some sequence of questions for the interview.
Stay focused.
Plan. Keep most of the open ended questions for the end.
If new questions come up during the interview,
then I would suggest writing them down and asking them at the end.
If they're quick to answer sorts of questions then you can ask them that,
but if it's going to distract the conversation,
write them down, remember,
and add to the end if possible.
Keep your priorities straight.
Also, be open minded.
You may get answers that you do not expect at all.
Also, ask why a lot,
but do be careful not to ask why,
in a offending way.
For example, let's say the curious tone of, huh?
That's okay, that's very interesting,
why would we be wanting to do this.
That's versus the, Huh?
Why would you want that?-tone.
Yeah, don't you that one.
You might also have more of the learning tone of, Oh,
I don't really understand,
could you please explain further?
Okay, we're having trouble explaining this,
could we draw it out?
You might draw it, they might draw it,
etc., at any weight, avoid offense.
Additionally, try to avoid questions that are opinionated, or biased,
affirmative, or ones that are obvious, or impossible answers.
Your opinion does not really count in this situation.
You don't want to lead the witness at this point.
You can suggest some ideas, but be careful,
you want most of the information to actually come from them.
Time is limited, so also be careful of those affirmative or obvious answers.
If it's an impossible answer,
on one, you might not realize that, but,
If you leave those toward the end of the interview,
then there's time to try to talk out with the interviewees,
and see if you can make the situation not impossible.
Just like when writing a paper, edit, structure, outline.
Edit, structure, and outline your interview.
Give your interviewees notifications of the topics to be discussed.
Record the results close to the end of your meeting.
If you wait too long,
you're going to forget it.
If you write them right away,
you can also include in your notes some of the personal reactions,
and the attitudes that your customers had.
Lastly, try to keep the interviewee in the loop.
Of course, when you're keeping them in the loop you might want to leave
out some personal reactions at that point,
like, this person sneezed right here;
we don't care and they don't need to know that we notice they seized.
However, go and review the transcript of your interviewee and send that to them,
to try to get some validation.
Record the necessary parts for the main SRS documents.
Most of the time, you won't get to double check your work with the stakeholders,
but, it's worth a try,
and many will appreciate it to know that their time was spent well.
You did hear them,
and you are moving forward.
Kristen Walcott-JusticeAssistant Professor
