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Interviews

What is it?

An interview template provides a structure that helps you create strong questions and capture responses and thoughts.

Why and when should I use this?

Learning directly from the people at the heart of your challenge will ground your understanding in their experience. It will reveal other stakeholders you can speak to to build a comprehensive picture of who is involved, what their challenges are, and how they connect to one another.

How much time should I spend on this?

15-20 minutes. We find it helpful to have any insights we need to draw from accessible so we can brainstorm questions easily.

Who should I involve in this?

Use this template with your project team.

How to use it...

  1. Draft questions: Discuss with your team the things you want to find out in your interviews and start writing questions that could capture this information. Good interview questions are open ended (they don't lead to a yes/no answer) that will get your stakeholders thinking.
  2. Prioritise: Read all of the questions and prioritise questions which will reveal what you want to find out. To help you prioritise, think about how you can tailor your questions to your stakeholders. Think about how you can make the interviewee comfortable through the language that you choose.
  3. Order into a flow: Next, arrange your prioritised questions into a flow that helps questions follow on easily from one to the next. Refine the order until you have 5-6 questions. Record the questions on your template to use in your interview.
  4. Record your thoughts: In the interview, note opportunities that come to mind. For example, if there is someone else mentioned who you could speak to, or if your interviewee could be involved in later phases of the project.