At its core user experience work is about understanding the people who use our products and services. Good interviewing practices are essential to doing this well. This workshop will show you how to interview people to discover their needs, desires, and pain points. In a series of mock interviews you'll learn basic techniques, mistakes to avoid, and lightweight analysis and synthesis techniques that work well in the collaborative environments many UX practitioners work in.

1. Adrian Howard (@adrianh) Effective Customer
Interviewing
nuxcamp.uk

2. Hello!

3. You don’t have to
copy the slides
http://slideshare.net/adrianh

4. Ask questions!

5. Eh?

6. I ♥ feedback

8. Swear jar is running…

9. Chatham House Rule

10. “When a meeting, or part thereof, is
held under the Chatham House Rule,
participants are free to use the
information received, but neither the
identity nor the affiliation of the
speaker(s), nor that of any other
participant, may be revealed”

11. Who are you?

12. Stand up!
(yes… you’re going to have to start doing stuff already)

13. A–B–C

14. A = Speaker
B = Interviewer
C = Observer

15. Speakers:
Shut your eyes…

16. Interviewers:
Ask the speaker about their
best restaurant experience.

17. Interviewers:
Do not take notes

18. Observers:
Watch what happens.
Write observations down.

19. 🕑
2 minutes

20. Reflection

21. Tip:
Drink

22. B = Speaker
C = Interviewer
A = Observer

23. Speakers:
Shut your eyes…

24. Interviewers:
Ask the speaker about their
best vacation experience.

25. Interviewers:
… and one more thing …

26. Interviewers:
After the first question – you
cannot speak again. Shhhhh!

27. Interviewers:
Do not take notes

28. Observers:
Watch what happens.
Write observations down.

29. 🕑
2 minutes

30. Reflection

31. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Christopher_Macsurak_Fran_Lebowitz.jpg
– Fran Lebowitz
“The opposite of talking isn't listening
The opposite of talking is waiting”

32. Tip:
Use silence

33. Tip:
Pay attention to
body language

34. C = Speaker
A = Interviewer
B = Observer

35. Speakers:
Shut your eyes…

36. Interviewers:
Talk with the speaker about how
they decorate & furnish their home.

37. Interviewers:
… and one more thing …

38. Interviewers:
After the 1st
question you only ask
“Can you tell me more about X?”
(where X is something the speaker
has previously mentioned)

39. Interviewers:
Do not take notes

40. Observers:
Watch what happens.
Write observations down.

41. 🕑
4 minutes

42. Reflection

43. – Arthur Bloch
“Every clarification
breeds new questions”

44. Tip:
Reflect back what
the speaker said

45. … and relax …

46. Why do we interview?

47. “If I had asked my
customers what they
wanted they would
have said a faster
horse”

48. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_ford_1919.jpg
“If I had asked my
customers what they
wanted they would
have said a faster
horse”
– Henry Ford (did not say this)

49. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_ford_1919.jpg
“If there is any one
secret of success, it
lies in the ability to
get the other person's
point of view and see
things from that
person's angle as well
as from your own”
– Henry Ford

50. What is an interview?

51. An interview is not a… quiz
survey
negotiation
pitch
date
conversation

52. Rapport & Empathy

53. Learn new things

54. (In)validate
our assumptions

55. Who do you interview?

56. https://www.flickr.com/photos/artfulone/14206229674/sizes/l

57. https://www.flickr.com/photos/joncandy/5561310462

58. Tip:
Bribes

59. Tip:
Look for bored people

60. Go where your customers are

61. Tip:
Don’t look scary

62. Tip:
Go with somebody

63. Use your organisation

64. Tip:
Sales, Marketing & Support

65. Use social media

66. Intercept recruiting

67. Recruiters

68. How many?

69. –Bill Vaughan
“We learn something
every day, and lots of
times it's that what
we learned the day
before was wrong.”

70. Don’t just use interviews
for validation

71. buildlearn
measure
productdata
ideas

72. buildlearn
measure
productdata
ideas

73. buildlearn
measure
productdata
ideas

74. More interviewing tips…

75. Tip:
Be polite

76. Tip:
Ask open questions

77. Tip:
Avoid leading questions

78. Tip:
Avoid fortuneteller questions

79. Exercise time!

80. Today you found a startup!

81. Startup 1
Exploring exciting ways to create
a great experience eating out

82. Startup 2
Helping people have the
vacation of their dreams

83. Startup 3
Democratising professional
interior decoration

84. What do you want
to find out?

85. 🕑
Individually write down topics.
One topic per post-it.

86. 🕑
Group them as a team.
Then label groups.

87. 🕑
Write questions
for topic groups.

88. 🕑
Write cross-cutting
questions

89. Reflection

90. A = Speaker
B = Interviewer
C = Observer

91. Interviewers
Gather info on your startup.
Think about the list of topics.

92. Interviewers & Observers
Try and note down the things
the speaker tells you

93. 🕑
5 minutes

94. Tip:
• Silence & body language
• Reflect back
• Ask open questions
• Do not ask leading & fortuneteller questions

95. Reflection

96. Tip:
Observations vs Insights

97. Tip:
Interview in pairs

98. Tip:
Consider recording

99. B = Speaker
C = Interviewer
A = Observer

100. Tip:
• Silence & body language
• Reflect back
• Ask open questions
• Do not ask leading & fortuneteller questions
• Observations vs Insights

101. C = Speaker
A = Interviewer
B = Observer

102. Tip:
• Silence & body language
• Reflect back
• Ask open questions
• Do not ask leading & fortuneteller questions
• Observations vs Insights

103. Analysis & Synthesis

105. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Customer_journey_with_touchpoints_English.png

107. http://memegenerator.net/instance/54379154

108. You should interview
your customers regularly

109. You should interview
your customers regularly

110. You should interview
your customers regularly

111. You should interview
your customers regularly

112. You should interview
your customers regularly

113. You should interview
your customers regularly

114. STALK
before you
TALK
before you
SELL
before you
BUILD

115. Practice, practice, practice

116. Do retrospectives

117. http://trvrs.co/book

120. Questions?
Agile & Lean UX News — bit.ly/leanuxnews
Adrian Howard (@adrianh)
quietstars.com
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