Discovery interviews

Interviews have a time limit, so think carefully about the questions you want to ask and make a list. 30-minute interviews can accommodate up to ten questions, hour interviews could stretch to 20. Use open questions that allow the interviewee to give you as much qualitative data as you can gather from your time together.

You may not have time to ask them all, and that's ok. Position the most important up front, and remember you can be flexible.

Some examples we like to ask are:

“What are the biggest challenges in your role?”
“How would a family member/partner/friend describe your job?”
“How do you know when you’ve been successful at work?”

Reach out to your interviewees ahead of time. Let them know how the interview will run, and any prep you want them to do ahead of time. You can choose to share the questions in advance or not.
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Letting your interviewees know exactly how the session will run and letting them ask questions to you in advance will put them at ease and helps create a safe environment.

Whether online or face to face, conduct your interviews. Give your full attention to the conversation, and with permission, record a transcription of the interview. This will help you stay present and engaged rather than desperately trying to take notes that will impede your ability to actively listen.

Once your interview has concluded, make sure you store and manage your notes/transcript in a consistent format.

Otter.ai and Dovetail are some of our favourites, but if you’re just taking simple notes, make sure you write these up straight away to capture key themes from each interview you have.

Learn from each interview and adapt as you go.

For example, if there are questions that just aren't landing well or are being misinterpreted, tweak them to ensure you're getting valuable insights out of these conversations.

If you're doing it right, you should start to see clear themes emerge.