Effective 1:1 Interviews

Everything you do at work is more successful if you have input from stakeholders.  Stakeholder input helps you to identify the right problems to solve and lights the path to the best solutions.  Soliciting the most valuable responses from an interviewee requires duty and care in asking the questions. 

 1. Ask open-ended questions.  An open-ended question gives your interviewee the widest possible breadth and depth of response.  So don’t ask “do you prefer coffee A or coffee B” or “what is your favorite coffee”.  Ask “tell me about your ideal coffee experience”.  Open ended questions help you discover unexpected answers and insights.

2. Don’t embed the solution in the question.  Don’t ask “when your car breaks down which repair service do you call”.  Ask “tell me about a time you broke down in the car.”  It’s the equivalent to “leading the witness” in court!

3. Don’t focus on one aspect of the problem.  I come from a world of R&D and technically trained people have a strong bias to focus on or listen for technical aspects.  But the emotional and social considerations are often of equal importance. 

4. Don’t be afraid to go deeper.  The goal is to understand multiple facets of any problem so don’t be afraid to ask for more, e.g.  “Tell me more about the feelings you experienced”.

5.  Be prepared and execute with excellence.

a. Have your questions ready.  Less can be more so spend time determining what you really need to ask.   I usually target 5-8 questions.

b.  Ask all your questions.  If you skip in the moment, you will likely regret it later.

c. Take great notes (or record).  Personally, I don’t record interviews, I find following these guidelines gives me the feedback I need and the time to keep pushing forward.

d. Write up your notes while your memory is fresh.  I block my schedule immediately after the interview to complete writing up notes.