Preparing for User Interviews
There are only four things you really need to prepare for user interviews.
I’m not sure why, but…
…a common mistake is to be under-prepared with the interview parameters but over-prepared with questions
Think of a user’s life as a canvas filled with interesting topics:
The common mistake is drawing a large and vague box and stuff it with questions:
The actual goal should be to draw a small box and sharpen the questions within that box:
This is part [1/3] of a series about user interviews
Read more here
Things to prepare
(a) Recruitment Strategy
I hesitated to put this in here because it seemed so blinding obvious.
Yet, I see researchers with full three-pagers of questions and topics but no clear way of reaching users.
Please have a recruitment strategy prepared.
If your goal is to talk to 5 potential & relevant users, you might need to speak to 20+ people.
Some options you have:
- Facebook, LinkedIn, and/or Twitter DMs
- Tradeshows/ Online events
- Forums like HackerNews & IndieHackers
- Ads on Facebook & Google
Whichever method you choose, try to get a 15–90min timeslot with your users.
(b) Your Hypothesis & a Null Hypothesis
Remember to have both a hypothesis and a null hypothesis — even seasoned product professionals make this mistake.
This should encapsulate what you wish to validate or invalidate in your interviews.
Hypothesis: Professionals want to expand their social network but find it hard to do so because it is a huge time commitment.
Null Hypothesis: Professionals don’t care about expanding their social network even if it only takes them 30 minutes a week.
Your actual goal here is to be so skeptical that you try to prove your null hypothesis.
(c) Target Persona
Look for individuals who you think have this job-to-be-done arise in their life. (If you have no idea who to speak to, this probably isn’t a very good idea for you to work on)
You will start broad at first. Refine your target persona after the initial interviews:
- Working professionals
- Working professions between the ages of 24–35
- + Work in white-collar jobs
- + Work in a major city
- + Work in tech, finance, engineering, sales, or marketing
(d) Only 3 questions
- Tell me about yourself
- When was the last time you did X?
- How did it go?
Ask “Why” 30 times later
Why only three questions?
Your aim is to adapt and learn about how they think.
Too many prepared questions tend to lead users to the outcome that YOU want.
Not the honest truth.
Final Point
Remember this is a conversation, not an interrogation.
Introduce yourself. Make the user feel more comfortable. Smile 😃
TLDR:
(a) Recruitment Strategy
(b) Hypothesis & Null Hypothesis
(c) Target persona
(d) 3 Questions
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