Team Skill 2 Understanding User and Stakeholder Needs Interviewing (10)

Interviewing Interviewing is mostly ▫Simple ▫Direct Problem ▫Developing the right questions can be challenging ▫Avoid bias ▫Don’t assume in the questions There are a lot of techniques for interviewing ▫For example some police interrogation techniques are applicable

Interviewing Other Problems with Interviewing ▫Previous experience with a similar system can hinder interviewing  Produces preconceived notions ▫Do not influence the client with your experience of the problem Structure to ask context-free questions ▫e.g. What kind of precision is required or desired in the product?

Context-free Questions Key ▫Is to ask about the user’s problem, without biasing the type of solution Who is the user? Who is the customer? What are their needs? What other ways can a solution be found?

Value-added Context Once the problem is clearly understood ▫Pursue possible solutions What does the person being interviewed think? ▫Sometime they know best! So start the process context free and then get more specific

How to Interview Preparation ▫Specific context-free questions ▫Set of context-related questions Be prepared to digress if it’s meaningful Decide who should be interviewed in the organization

How to Interview During the interview ▫Take notes manually during the interview  Don’t rely on memory! ▫Verify key points occasionally  Sometimes the person being interviewed changes their mind when they hear it read back to them

What to Ask? Example structure for an interview may contain similar elements ▫Establish profile;  Who they are  What they do  What they produce  What determines success ▫Assessing the problem;  What are the problems?  Why do they exist?  How do you deal with it now?  How do you think it should be solved?

What to Ask? ▫Understand User Environment;  Who uses the existing system?  What education/training do they have?  What platforms are in use?  How many people need to use the system? ▫Recap the Problem;  Understand all the problems, environment, and users  Make sure no problems are missed

What to Ask? ▫Analyst’s Input;  Review other areas that might be impacted by the problem ▫Assess Solution;  Your proposed solutions should outline  Benefits  Key Features

What to Ask? ▫Non-functional Needs;  Performance  Security  Installation & Support,  … ▫Other Requirements/Constraints;  Legal,  Regulatory,  Environmental  … ▫Wrap Up; ask for other questions, and outline follow, action items, and next steps

What to Ask? Conclusion ▫Each interview should be tailored to fit the person/group being interviewed  Sometimes you will want a stand set of questions to compare results ▫Make sure to take notes during the interview of the users response  Even if you record the interview ▫Document not only responses to your questions but also any additional issues they are having

Compiling Data Once you have conduct a few interviews ▫The common themes should appear Once themes and issues are identified you can ▫Do a preliminary sort by priority

Questionnaires Generally are not as good as Interviews during requirements gathering ▫Cannot diverge on ideas outside the questionnaire ▫Do not provide any clarity/follow-up to answers ▫Lack of interactive  Tone  Body language ... What they can do: ▫Identify some basic system needs ▫Allow the users to pick between multiple options (in some cases)