1. Interviewing
Sriram Mohan

2. Outline Mistakes to avoid Before the interview Questions
Requirements workshop

3. Most Common Mistake Lack of preparation Bias
Interviewing is the simplest and the most direct technique for obtaining requirements. It can be used in almost every situation and it gets us up close and personal with the client. There are some problems however with this method, the developer might inadvertently bias the answers provided by the client. Having done a lot of work in this area, one might think they know what the problem is and start thinking in terms of solution

4. Context Free Questions
Who is the user?
Who is the customer?
Are their needs different?
Where else can a solution to this problem be found?
Ask general questions, this helps avoid probing for a solution at once. These are questions to which the answer is not obvious and forces the developer to listen to the user and get away from the habit of looking for solutions without getting the entire context in. Once we are past this phase, we can focus on getting into the context.

5. Outline Mistakes to avoid Before the interview Questions
Requirements workshop

6. Where Should You Hold an Interview?
Non-threatening environment
Customer's turf
Room large enough for group
Free from distractions

7. Interview Preparation
Do some research
Prepare questions
Prepare agenda
Select roles:
Leader
Note taker
Questioners
Don’t stop the user when they are trying to answer a question, don’t just follow the script, try and establish a rapport.

8. Interview Phases Establish user profile Assess the problem
Understand the environment
Recap for understanding
Analyst's inputs
Assess solution
Assess opportunity
Assess reliability, performance
Other requirements
Wrap-up
1. Establish User Profile - do some research first; determine background of interviewee; find out what will constitute success or failure
2. Assess the Problem - Find out what the problems are; how are problems addressed now?
3. Understand the Environment - find out about the users; find out about the computing environment; how much help will users need?
4. Recap for Understanding - paraphrase what you have heard so far; is anything missing?
5. Analyst's Inputs - ask about problems that you would expect to be present; rank these problems relative to others
6. Assess Solution - “What if…”; “How important would it be to…?”
7. Assess Opportunity - determine the market for the solution, determine the value of the solution
8. Assess Reliability and Performance - Determine nonfunctional needs (e.g. reliability, performance, support)
9. Other Requirements - Any external requirements? Any other requirements not already mentioned? Other legal and regulatory requirements
10. Wrap-up - What should we have asked? How can we follow up?

9. Outline Mistakes to avoid Before the interview Questions
Requirements workshop

10. 1. Establish User Profile
Do some research first
Determine background of interviewee
Find out what will constitute success or failure

11. Personas - Extra Credit
Personas or personae are fictitious characters that are created to represent the different user types within a targeted demographic that might use a site or product.
Used in HCI, Will they be useful for us? Why, If yes How?
Turn it in using the drop box in Angel (Week 01 – Day 04 – Extra Credit Drop Box).

12. 2. Assess the Problem Find out what the problems are
How are problems addressed now?
Why does the problem exist? How do you solve it now? How would you like to solve it

13. 3. Understand the Environment
Find out about the users
Find out about the computing environment
How much help will users need?
Use this to find information about users, their educational/computer experience, platforms they use, expectations of usability, training time, documentation

14. 4. Recap for Understanding
Paraphrase what you have heard so far
Is anything missing?

15. 5. Analyst's Inputs
Ask about problems that you would expect to be present
Rank these problems relative to others
For each problem, ask if it is something you should be worried out, why that problem exists, how they would like to solve it, priority – very similar to problem assessment, except these might be based on your experience developing such systems.

16. 6. Assess Solution What if ... How important would it be?
Use this to list some features and ask the client to rank importance

17. 7. Assess Opportunity Determine the market for the solution
Determine the value of the solution

18. 8. Assess Reliability and Performance
Determine nonfunctional needs:
reliability
performance
support
Installation, configuration requirements, security requirements, licensing the product, labeling and packaging

19. 9. Other Requirements Any external requirements?
Any other requirements not already mentioned?
Legal, standards, regulations

20. 10. Wrap-up What should we have asked? How can we follow up?
Summarize based on your interview, the clients expectations.

21. Why Not A Questionnaire Instead?...
…After all, they can be done so much more efficiently!
But
Difficult to follow-up on responses
Relevant questions cannot always be designed in advance.
Advantages of interviews:
Personal Contact
Interaction/Follow-ups
The way the questions are structured shows an inherent bias, it is difficult to follow up on unclear responses or use the user response to explore new domains.
Let’s Plan on an interview session with me as the client.

22. Outline Mistakes to avoid Before the interview Questions
Requirements workshop

23. Benefits of Requirements Workshop
All stakeholders get their say
May expose political issues
Helps form effective team (developers and stakeholders)

24. What should you do before?
Sell the concept.
Prepare
Set the stage
Choose the facilitator
Make sure that people know that you are serious about what you are doing, it is natural that a certain element of “oh, here we go again” may develop.. Prepare for the workshop, take care of the logistics, send some preparation material(make sure you don’t send it too soon, just send it a week before).

25. Workshop Facilitator Establish proper tone Introduce goals and agenda
Keep team on track
Facilitate decision making
Make sure all voices are heard

26. Sample One-Day Agenda Introduction 0.5 hours Context 1.5 hours
Brainstorming 2.0 hours
Lunch hours
Brainstorming 1.0 hours
Feature definition 1.0 hours
Idea reduction 1.0 hours
Wrap-up hours
Intro – review agenda, rules
Context – present project status, market needs and current status
Brainstorm – feature analysis
Define each feature
Idea pruning
Summarize and assign action items and address parking lot items
See Table 11-1, page 114 of text for more information. Note that the book forgot mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks!

27. Bag of Tricks Manage Time Grandstanding/keeping quiet
Negative comments
Make sure everybody follows the time, penalty for being late to start of sessions, have a 5 minute position statement, have great idea coupons to help shy people express their opinions, 1 cheap shot.