How NOT To Have An Interview
#1. Agenda
You interviewee should be well prepared and feel as comfortable as possible during the session. Inform him/her time ahead about the purpose of the session and what to except.
#2 No leading questions
Avoid What If questions and any leading ones of any kind. You want your interviewee to give you its' personal perspective on the subject without putting words in his/her mouth. If the interviewee does not know the answer to your question, make sure to take the blame. It's not on him/ her!
#3 Number of participants
Try to reduce the amount of participants from your end to minimum. Let your interviewee feel useful without standing in front of a firing squad.
#4 Documentation
As much as possible and in every possible way. After receiving participants' consent - use video for facial expressions, sound for the verbal responses, transcript for future use and those you didn't allow to join in previous tip.
#5 No excuses
If something's not working during a demo, a presentation, do not provide excuses on why something isn't acting as excepted. Just apologize and move on. Shit happens.
#5 No talking
Do not allow any simultaneous discussions during the session. Your participants time is precious and you should respect that. Stay focused and on track.
#6 Speak now or...
If you are about to exceed your time with the interviewee/s and you still have items you'd like to catch on, kindly ask wether it will be ok to proceed another time.
#7 Let them speak
When asking the interviewee/s a question, let them answer it freely in their own time. Do not try to rush, push or answer instead of them. It misses the point.
#8 Suitable questions
Make sure the questions you are trying to answer on are suitable for the persona you are reaching out to. Preferably do so before setting the meeting.
#9 Don't judge
These sessions might be insightful, encouraging, and also surprising for you as the facilitator. Make sure you don't judge your participants on their answers.
In the course of my work, I have collected some tips on applying semi-structured interviews with clients and end-users.
The result greatly helps a variety of teams such as development teams, product and UX teams to hone their capabilities and enable efficient and pleasant work for all involved.
The list will be updated, so stay tuned!