interview-frameworks

What this skill does

# Interview Frameworks

## Overview

Frameworks for conducting effective user interviews including question design, interviewing techniques, and extracting actionable insights.

**Core Principle**: Good interviews come from great questions. Focus on past behavior and specific examples, not hypotheticals or opinions. Listen more than you talk.

**Origin**: Synthesized from Teresa Torres ("Continuous Discovery Habits"), Erika Hall ("Just Enough Research"), and Rob Fitzpatrick ("The Mom Test").

**Key Insight**: User interviews are the foundation of customer discovery. Good interviews uncover unmet needs, validate assumptions, and reveal the "why" behind user behavior that quantitative data cannot.

## When to Use This Skill

**Auto-loaded by agents**:

- `research-ops` - For user interview guides and JTBD interviews

**Use when you need**:

- Customer discovery research
- Problem validation
- Solution validation
- Usability testing
- Feature prioritization research
- Understanding user workflows
- Jobs-to-be-Done research

---

## Four Types of User Interviews

### Discovery Interviews (Problem Exploration)

**Purpose**: Understand problems, needs, contexts, pain points

**When**: Early product development, new market, problem validation

**Focus**:

- Current workflows
- Pain points and workarounds
- Unmet needs
- Context and constraints

**Example question**: "Walk me through how you currently manage projects for your team"

**Complete script**: `assets/interview-script-templates.md` (Discovery section)

---

### Validation Interviews (Solution Testing)

**Purpose**: Test solutions, get feedback on concepts

**When**: After problem validation, before building

**Focus**:

- Solution fit with workflow
- Feature prioritization
- Willingness to pay
- Alternatives considered

**Example question**: "If we built [solution], how would that fit into your workflow?"

**Complete script**: `assets/interview-script-templates.md` (Validation section)

---

### Usability Interviews (Product Testing)

**Purpose**: Test actual product, identify friction

**When**: During or after building

**Focus**:

- Task completion
- Confusion points
- Feature clarity
- Missing functionality

**Example question**: "Try creating a project. Think aloud as you go."

**Complete script**: `assets/interview-script-templates.md` (Usability section)

---

### Generative Interviews (Open Exploration)

**Purpose**: Broad exploration, no specific hypothesis

**When**: Exploring new markets or pivots

**Focus**:

- Day in the life
- Goals and motivations
- Decision-making process
- Context and constraints

**Example question**: "Tell me about a recent project that didn't go as planned"

**Complete script**: `assets/interview-script-templates.md` (Generative section)

---

## Core Interview Techniques

### The Mom Test (Rob Fitzpatrick)

**Principle**: Ask questions that even your mom couldn't lie to you about

**Bad questions** (invite lies):

- "Would you buy this?" (people lie about future)
- "Do you think this is a good idea?" (want to be nice)
- "Would you use this feature?" (hypothetical)

**Good questions** (reveal truth):

- "When's the last time [problem] came up?" (frequency)
- "How much time/money did that cost you?" (severity)
- "What are you currently doing to solve it?" (existing solutions)
- "Show me your [current solution]" (actual behavior)
- "Who else should I talk to?" (validates problem is real)

**Complete guide**: `assets/questioning-techniques-template.md` (Mom Test section)

---

### The 5 Whys

**Purpose**: Get to root cause by asking "why" repeatedly

**Process**:

1. Start with observation
2. Ask "why" or "what causes that?"
3. Repeat 4-5 times until reaching root cause
4. Stop when you have actionable insight

**Example**:

```
"I don't use feature X"
→ Why? "It's too complicated"
→ Why complicated? "Don't understand buttons"
→ Why? "Labels unclear"
→ Why? "Use jargon I don't know"
→ Why? "Never learned terminology"

Root cause: Onboarding gap + plain language needed
```

**Complete guide**: `assets/questioning-techniques-template.md` (5 Whys section)

---

### Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) Interview

**Framework**: Understand the "job" user is hiring product to do

**Question Structure**:

1. **Context**: "Tell me about the last time you [hired product/made decision]"
2. **Situation**: "What was happening? What triggered you?"
3. **Desired Outcome**: "What were you hoping to achieve?"
4. **Alternatives**: "What else did you consider? Why didn't those work?"
5. **Decision**: "What made you choose [solution]?"

**Key Insight**: Find the real job (not surface level)

- Surface: "Manage tasks"
- Actual job: "Maintain visibility and accountability as team scales"

**Complete guide**: `assets/questioning-techniques-template.md` (JTBD section)

---

### Laddering Technique

**Purpose**: Connect features to emotional benefits

**Structure**: Attributes → Consequences → Values

**Process**: Keep asking "Why does that matter?" until reaching emotional value

**Example**:

```
Feature: "Real-time collaboration"
→ "So team can work together" (Consequence)
→ "Faster to get things done" (Consequence)
→ "I can go home on time" (Consequence)
→ "Spend time with my family" (Value)

Marketing insight: Sell "time with family" not "real-time sync"
```

**Complete guide**: `assets/questioning-techniques-template.md` (Laddering section)

---

## Best Practices

### DO

**Ask open-ended questions**:

- ✓ "How do you currently solve [problem]?"
- ✗ "Do you solve [problem] with a spreadsheet?" (yes/no)

**Listen more than talk** (80/20 rule):

- ✓ Silent pauses (let them fill silence)
- ✗ Jump to next question immediately

**Ask for specific examples**:

- ✓ "Tell me about the last time you..."
- ✗ "Generally, do you...?" (hypothetical)

**Probe for details**:

- ✓ "How much time does that take?"
- ✗ Accept vague answers ("a lot")

**Ask about past behavior**:

- ✓ "When did you last...?"
- ✗ "Would you...?" (future hypothetical)

---

### DON'T

**Lead the witness**:

- ✗ "Wouldn't it be great if...?"
- ✓ "How would that fit your workflow?"

**Pitch your solution** (discovery phase):

- ✗ "Our tool solves this with [feature]!"
- ✓ "What would an ideal solution look like?"

**Ask hypothetical questions**:

- ✗ "If we built X, would you use it?"
- ✓ "How did you decide to try your current solution?"

**Multi-part questions**:

- ✗ "Do you use A and what about B, also C?"
- ✓ One question at a time

---

## Participant Recruitment

### Define Target

**Must-Have Criteria** (Disqualify if NO):

- Role: [Specific role]
- Company size: [Range]
- Uses [product category]
- [Decision authority level]

**Disqualify**:

- Works at competitor
- Friends/family (too biased)
- Professional interviewees (6+ studies/year)

**Complete guide**: `assets/participant-recruitment-guide.md`

Screener templates, sourcing channels, outreach templates, incentive guidance

---

### Sourcing Channels

**Your users** (30-50% response rate):

- Best for: Usability testing, current user feedback
- Incentive: $0-50

**Your leads** (20-40% response rate):

- Best for: Problem validation, why they didn't buy
- Incentive: $50-75

**LinkedIn** (5-15% response rate):

- Best for: Discovery, reaching specific roles
- Incentive: $50-75

**Research panels** (Respondent.io, User Interviews):

- Best for: Fast recruitment, hard-to-reach segments
- Cost: $100-300 per participant

**Communities** (Reddit, Slack, Discord):

- Best for: Niche audiences, passionate users
- Incentive: $0-75 (sometimes free)

---

## Note-Taking and Recording

### Recording

**Always ask permission**:

```
"Do you mind if I record for my notes? Only our team will see it."

Tools:
- Zoom/Google Meet (built-in)
- Otter.ai (transcription)
- Grain.co (AI highlights)
```

**Benefits**: Don't miss details, review later, share with team, focus on listening

---

### Two-Column Notes

**Left: Observations** (What they said/did)
**Right: Interpretations** (What you