The Fabulous 5 Formula to an excellent Stakeholder Interview
Are you at the start of your UX project trying to draw some useful insights from your clients? But are you also unsure about how to start building a relationship with them to extract some priceless information? Then stakeholder interviews can be the right deal! It’s a formal process that lets you execute a successful build with some first-hand research tools for your great UX design. It’s as exciting as it sounds but certainly binds you to some challenges. But if you are ready to give a head start, then we have handpicked the five focal points that will make you tick with your stakeholder interviews.
#1 Conduct an Overall Research
The first and the basic step to kick start your stakeholder interview journey is by getting to know a bunch of details. At this point, you need to run across to gather every possible information about the project you are supposed to operate on. You need to have a clear picture of the organisation, their past, their mission and the competition they are facing in the current market. Identify and list down your observations in the light of your research.
Once you put them down into words, it’s time to group them into problems, weaknesses, strong points and a hypothesis. This helps you take an easy leap into identifying what you want to learn from the prospective stakeholders. By the end of this process, you need to have answers to questions like Who comprise the target audience? Who are the major competitors? What are the technological limitations that this company is facing? What are the long term goals they wish to achieve out of this project? What strategy went well in the past, what failed? Basically, it’s a project brief or a moderator guide for yourself to help you stay on the same page with what your stakeholders are looking for.
#2 Identify who you are dealing with
There is no moving ahead without understanding who is going to face your volley of questions. It’s up to you to pick the number of interviewees based on the size of the organization. You need to make a list of stakeholders and group all of them by level and their involvement in the project. Remember that stakeholders function on different layers of a company ranging from management to technical support. And the questions that go into the interview must be different for each. So, how do you prepare separately for each specific group? That’s when you do a background study.
- It’s time to barge into their LinkedIn profile and collect relevant information regarding their current position, expertise, areas of interest to frame appropriate questions.
- Before you go right into the heart of your discussion, gather a few intro questions to break the ice. For example “What are your favourite apps?”
- Keep in mind that your aim is to provide the best of your user experience design services, so jot down a few specific questions to grab maximum information as possible. These questions should encompass everything from target audience, needs, goals to constraints and expectations from you.
#3 Keep your interviewees informed
Now, this is as crucial as the interview itself. Inform your stakeholders much ahead of time about the context and the scope of your interview. You may also include the main themes so that they know what is coming, at the same time making them comfortable informing that they will not be judged on their level of knowledge. In addition to this, some projects may rely on sensitive information, you do not want them to feel defensive during the interview so leaving them with some time to prep up is an easy way to not feel ambushed.
This practice should also remind them about the time slot you have set up while also asking their suggestion for a change in the schedule. Another way of keeping your stakeholders informed is by offering them a vacant space to ask questions and come up with an appropriate answer within a time frame. The same goes on the day of the interview. You need to start by informing and introducing the stakeholders about each one in the room. Most importantly, even when you assume that your stakeholders know you well, putting an introduction of yourself also gives better clarity of purpose. Give your interviewees the benefit to make sense of what’s happening.
#4 Record only with Permission
Although you might have a sheet of paper for yourself to write down the key points, stakeholder Interviews are conversational in nature with rich information. You do not want to skip any important details in the due course. They are also important archives that you or your other team members may get back to later. While this may be of use, you must keep in mind to inform and seek permission from the interviewee before recording in case they reveal confidential information about their organization.
#5 Be a Smart Interviewer
Adopt a natural style so that you make your interviewee comfortable at raising his/her concerns or comments. Here take a look at the following steps to gauge during the interview
- Even if they hesitate to talk, you need to pull them into the conversation tactically.
- On the other hand, there are stakeholders who love to talk and a single question can trigger a long discussion. When this happens, you need to diplomatically bring them back to the point you want them to make.
- At the same time take care to be extremely polite and observant of the verbal as well as nonverbal cues.
- Wait until the person finishes answering instead of interrupting. Do not try guessing what they might say. Give them time to think and also acknowledge when something is heard or understood.
- Always respect the interviewee's time and try to stick to it.
- It’s also important that you sum up the entire exchange at the end to highlight the key points discussed.
Afterword
The importance of Stakeholder interviews cannot be underestimated in the commitment and consensus for the efficient flow of the project. They are an excellent way to get your stakeholders to vocalize about their requirements and unmentioned goals. It is also a gateway to earn their trust and show them that you are running parallel to their needs to synthesize the best results.
