#mtptraining / @mindtheproduct Building a User Interview Guide The next slides will walk you through the components of an interview guide created for a discovery research effort on how teams set and manage goals. Pay attention to the intent of each section as you create your own User Interview Guide. You can download this sample script and adjust it for your own use. 

#mtptraining / @mindtheproduct Internal Notes Document the reason you’re doing interviews to keep the team aligned. ● What is the hypothesis you’re “testing” ● What is the research goal? ● What questions are you trying to answer in your interviews? What do we want to accomplish? 

#mtptraining / @mindtheproduct Opener / Ice-Breaker Build rapport with your interviewee. ● Explain why you’re there ● Explain how the interview will go ● Give permission to speak freely ● Get permission to record Make the Interviewee Comfortable 

#mtptraining / @mindtheproduct Start Broad Start with the broadest questions of the interview. Don’t immediately give away what you are ultimately trying to understand. This will set the foundation for you to dig deeper, and give the interviewee time to get used to answering open-ended questions. Get the Interviewee Talking 

#mtptraining / @mindtheproduct Begin Narrowing the Topic At this point, you should start to hone in on the topic you'd like to dig into more. While still keeping the questions broad, and giving the interviewee space to talk at a high level, you can start to direct the questions. Start Directing the Conversation 

#mtptraining / @mindtheproduct Move Into Your Primary Research Questions Now you will get into more detailed questions about what you’re trying to learn. The bulk of your interview should be spent here. Make sure to keep questions open ended, and aim to avoid biasing answers. It’s Time to Dig Deep! 

#mtptraining / @mindtheproduct Wrap Up To close, give the interviewee an opportunity to express anything else that is on their mind that hasn’t been covered. It is also a great opportunity to understand what they view as most important. The “Magic Wand” question is a great way to get at this (see right). Blue Sky Thinking 

#mtptraining / @mindtheproduct A Note on Following the Guide Don’t let your interview guide constrain the conversation too tightly. You likely won’t ask all of the questions, and you may approach them in a different order to the way you have them written down. You may ask 1 question, and get answers to 4 others. That’s okay. This guide is simply intended to help you frame the conversation to get the learnings you need. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7