Basic user interview template

Sometimes it helps to have a template to begin the creation of a user interview instrument to use in ethnographic interviews as part of a user-centered design effort.

This is, by its nature, very generic, and the particular domain you’re learning about will imply changes to these questions or introduce completely new topics not listed here. But, hopefully, this will give you something to look at and modify as you create your own.

Introduction

[Learn more about these elements in this article.]

• Introduce yourself
• Explain what you’re there for
• Confirm the time available
• Assure them they are in control
• Assure them of confidentiality
• Get social permission to learn
• Get permission for recording
• Ask any pre-interview questions
• Start with a softball “icebreaker”

About your organization

• Tell us about your organization
• What is its mission?
• What is your team’s role in that mission?

You & your job

• What do you do?
• Can you give us an overview of what your work looks like?
• Can you give us an overview of your most important tasks?
• What did you do yesterday?
• Is that an average day for you? What does an average day look like for you?
• What does a good day look like? A bad day?
• What is the most difficult thing about your work?
• What is the best/most satisfying thing?
• Where do you spend your workday? How much of it is on the go?

The task

[This section presumes there is a central task that is the focus on the interview]

• How do you do this task currently? Can you walk us through it?
• What’s the simplest way the task can happen? What’s the most complicated, and what would cause that?
• What do you enjoy about the task? What do you find unpleasant or frustrating?
• How do you know when the task is complete?
• How do you know how well the task has been completed?
• What are the top 3 things you would change about the task if you could have whatever you wanted?

Your background

• Did you receive any training for this work? Tell us about it.
• How well did it prepare you?

Your goals

• How do you know when you’re doing a good job? A poor one?
• Is that something that’s incentivized by your employer?
• What’s the next step up the career ladder in your position now?
• What metrics would your promotion be based on?
• What makes a good [job title]? What makes a poor one?

Your routines

• Is there anything you need to do weekly? Tell us about that.
• Is there anything you need to do monthly? Tell us about that.
• Is there anything you need to do quarterly? Tell us about that.
• Is there anything you need to do annually? Tell us about that.

Your tools

• What tools/methods do you currently use to do your work?
• Particular software?
• What do you love about these tools? What do you find frustrating?
• Are there other tools you would rather be using? What do you like better about them?
• What devices do you use (mobile, tablet, laptop, pager, computer, big board, etc)
• What do you use the most? What do you like/dislike about them?
• If you could have any tool, what would it be and why?

Your team

• Who do you work with that performs similar work to you? What don’t you discuss but would like to?
• Do you discuss or share work with them? Tell us about that.
• How do you interface with your supervisor?
• How do they help you with your work?

Adjacent teams

• How do you communicate/coordinate with adjacent teams?
• What documents do you create to share work? How are they used?
• What do they pass to you?
• What are the main point points/issues/frustrations that you encounter?
• Are there bottlenecks that often cause you or others to have to wait to get something done?
• How are you currently managing these issues? Any workarounds/hacks?
• What would be the ideal series of steps for this process?

Your industry

• How do you stay on top of news and trends in your industry?
• What trends are affecting your industry?
• Where do you expect the industry to go over the short term?
• Where do you expect the industry to go over the long term?
• How do you expect this will affect your work, your team, and your organization?

Your aspirations

• How do you want to grow?
• What do you want to do less of?
• Where do you hope to be in 5 years?
• Do you think your aspirations are typical of people who do your job?

Closing questions

• If I could hire you an assistant that was very fast, very knowledgeable, and did not sleep, what are the top 3 things you have that assistant do?
• If I could wave a magic wand and make anything happen in [the software/service in question] what would it be? Don’t just ask for 1 puppy. Ask for 100 puppies.
• Was there anything you expected me to ask but that I didn’t? What was that (and what’s your answer)?
• Is there anyone else you would recommend we talk to about this topic?

If this has helped, I’d love to know about it. And in the meantime, have a read about Lies in the Interview (and 7 things to do about them.)