Interview Script

Use this when preparing for user interviews as part of a discovery or UX research engagement.

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How it works

1. You provide the research objective, product area, target persona, and client name
2. The skill builds a structured interview script following Mom Test principles, tailored to the engagement
3. It returns a ready-to-use interview guide with opening, core questions, probing techniques, and a note-taking template

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Prompt

You are preparing interview prep materials for Kate's ux-research-synthesis engagement. Before writing, read knowledge/voice-tone-guide.md -- use the internal voice (direct, working-doc tone -- this is a prep artifact, not a client deliverable).

Inputs I will provide:

• Research Objective: {{RESEARCH_OBJECTIVE}} (what questions need answering, what decisions this research informs)
• Product Area: {{PRODUCT_AREA}} (the feature, workflow, or domain being explored)
• Persona: {{PERSONA}} (who we are interviewing -- role, context, relationship to the product)
• Client: {{CLIENT}} (company name and relevant engagement context)

Step 1: Separate the three question levels

Before writing a single question, distinguish three levels that are often conflated:

1. Business question -- What does the org need to decide? (e.g., "Should we invest in self-serve onboarding?") This is never asked to participants.
2. Research objective -- What do we need to learn? (e.g., "Where do new users get stuck in the first 10 minutes?") This shapes the script structure but is not asked verbatim.
3. Interview questions -- What words come out of Kate's mouth? (e.g., "Walk me through the last time you set up a new tool.") These must be concrete, past-tense, and behavior-focused.

If the business question and research objective are identical, flag it: [CLARIFY WITH KATE: the business question and research objective look the same -- are we asking participants to solve the org's problem?]

Then clarify:

• What assumptions need validation?
• What does Kate already know vs. what is genuinely unknown?
• How many interviews are planned and what is the time per session?
• Is there an opportunity to observe participants in context? If the research is about behavior (what people do) rather than attitudes (what people think), consider whether observation should supplement some sessions.

If any of these are unclear from the inputs, note them as [CLARIFY WITH KATE: ...].

Step 2: Pull relevant context

Read knowledge/pm-discovery-frameworks.md, specifically:

• The Mom Test principles (ask about their life, not your idea; past behavior, not future intent)
• Assumption identification (four-risk model) to ensure questions cover value, usability, viability, and feasibility risks
• Opportunity Solution Tree framing to connect interview themes to the discovery structure

Search knowledge/engagement-history.md for past engagements where Kate conducted user research or interviews. Look for:

• Similar product domains or persona types
• Interview structures or question patterns that worked well
• Common pitfalls or surprises from past research

Allstate CompoZed reference: The pivotal-allstate engagement produced a reusable 6-section interview guide for claims experience research (claim background, emotions, claims process, processing time, payment preferences, communication preferences). The insurance card team interviewed 5 real users (Keith, Subbu, Alan, Adam, Sean) using a grid synthesis covering: times needed, form of proof, ease of access, wants/outcomes, and situation. When the domain involves insurance, claims, customer service, or enterprise workflows, reference these patterns for question structure and synthesis grids.

Step 3: Build the interview script

Structure the script for a 30-45 minute session (adjust if a different length is specified).

Interview Script

Opening (2-3 min)

• Introduction: who Kate is, why this conversation matters
• Frame: "We are here to learn from your experience. There are no right or wrong answers."
• Logistics: permission to record, time check, confidentiality
• Warm-up question to establish rapport

Context & Background (5 min)

• Role and daily work context
• How long they have been doing the relevant activity
• General relationship to the product area
• Goal: understand their world before diving into specifics

Core Exploration (15-20 min)

Current behavior and workflow (past tense, specific instances):

• "Walk me through the last time you [did the thing]. What happened?"
• "What tools or methods did you use?"
• "Who else was involved? How long did it take?"

Pain points and friction (observe, do not lead):

• "What was the hardest part?"
• "What have you tried to fix that? What happened?"
• "Where do you lose the most time or energy?"

Desired outcomes (their words):

• "What does good look like for you here?"
• "How would you know if this was working well?"

Priority and investment signals (skin in the game):

• "How much time or money do you currently spend on this?"
• "Have you looked for a better way? What did you find?"
• "If this was solved tomorrow, what would change for you?"

Customize these question clusters to {{PRODUCT_AREA}} and {{PERSONA}}. Replace generic placeholders with specific, concrete language relevant to the engagement.

Probing Toolkit

Include these as margin notes or a sidebar -- not scripted questions, but prompts for Kate to use when she hits a thread worth pulling:

• "Tell me more about that."
• "Why?" (gently, 2-3 times to reach root cause)
• "Can you give me a specific example?"
• "What happened next?"
• "How did that make you feel?"

Mom Test + Portigal Reminders

Print these at the top of the script as a checklist:

• Ask about their life, not your idea
• Ask about the past, not the future
• Talk less, listen more (80/20 split)
• Never pitch during the interview
• Watch for strong emotions -- they signal real pain or delight
• Compliments are noise. "That sounds cool!" tells you nothing.
• Go specific-to-general: start with "last time you did X" before asking about patterns
• Hold off on reactions -- don't connect or validate ("OMG same!"). Focus on them builds rapport.
• Deflect roadmap questions: "Why is that important to you?" keeps them as the expert
• Watch for satisficing -- smooth, generic answers may be plausible but not true. Probe deeper.

Wrap-Up (3-5 min)

• "Is there anything I did not ask that you think is important?"
• "Who else should I talk to about this?"
• Thank them for their time
• Share next steps if appropriate

Step 4: Create the note-taking template

Note-Taking Template

Participant: [Name / ID]
Date: [Date]
Interview Length: [Duration]

--- Snapshot ---
Key Jobs: [What they are trying to accomplish]
Current Solution: [What they use today]
Biggest Pain: [Their #1 frustration -- use their words]
Desired Outcome: [What success looks like to them]
Investment Signal: [How much they spend / would spend to solve this]

--- Key Quotes ---
1. "[verbatim quote]" -- re: [topic]
2. "[verbatim quote]" -- re: [topic]

--- Surprise Finding ---
[Something unexpected that challenges our assumptions]

--- Assumption Check ---
| Assumption | Supported? | Evidence |
|------------|------------|----------|
| (from Step 1) | Yes/No/Unclear | (what they said) |

--- Follow-up ---
[Next steps for this participant or the research overall]

Step 5: Add a synthesis pointer

Include this note at the bottom of the script:

After conducting interviews, use the interview-synthesis skill to synthesize findings. For processing discovery calls, use discovery-debrief.

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Examples

Input

• Research Objective: "Understand how clinic staff currently handle patient intake forms and where the process breaks down"
• Product Area: "Digital intake workflow for outpatient clinics"
• Persona: "Front desk coordinator at a mid-size outpatient clinic, 2-5 years in role"
• Client: "MedFlow Systems"

Output (abbreviated)

Interview Script: Clinic Intake Workflow -- MedFlow Systems Discovery

Mom Test Checklist:

• Ask about their life, not MedFlow's product idea
• Past tense: "Walk me through the last time..." not "Would you use..."
• 80/20 listening ratio
• No pitching

Opening (2 min) "Thanks for making time. I am working with MedFlow to understand how intake works at clinics like yours. I am here to learn from your experience -- there are no right answers."

Context (5 min)

• "Tell me about your role. What does a typical morning look like when the clinic opens?"
• "How long have you been coordinating intake at this clinic?"

Core Exploration (20 min)

• "Walk me through the last patient intake that felt slow or frustrating. What happened?"
• "When a patient shows up without their forms completed, what do you do?"
• "What is the most time-consuming part of getting a patient from the front door to the exam room?"
• "Have you tried anything to speed this up? What happened?"

Note-Taking Template:

Participant: [Name]
Key Jobs: Get patients checked in accurately and on time
Current Solution: [paper/digital/hybrid -- capture specifics]
Biggest Pain: [verbatim]

After conducting interviews, use the discovery-debrief skill to process findings.

Participant: [Name]
Key Jobs: Get patients checked in accurately and on time
Current Solution: [paper/digital/hybrid -- capture specifics]
Biggest Pain: [verbatim]