Learn, Iterate, Do: Writing My First Stakeholder Interview Guide
“Stakeholder interviews will help you understand the essential structure of the organization, how your work fits into the organization as a whole, and the approval process for various aspects of your project. They’ll also provide you with some less obvious opportunities to influence your project’s chances of success.” — Erika Hall, Just Enough Research
It was the end of our first sprint planning session for our current project. We sat scattered throughout the Learning Lab, our eyes on this sprint’s Team Lead and the whiteboard next to him.
The spirited debate about sprint activities transitioned into another about our roles. By the end of it, a list of roles for our initial research phase were written on the whiteboard.
Each role had a name next to it but one: stakeholder interviews.
Each team member’s name was on the whiteboard but one: mine.
I can do this, I thought. I’d interviewed stakeholders before. This wouldn’t be all that different.
…
…
Right?
The Past is Only a Foundation
At different points in my career before Center Centre, I conducted stakeholder interviews.
As an analyst at my last company, I learned how to listen to stakeholders to collect user stories and requirements. The conversations provided insights into context of use, processes, tools, users, and needs. I prepared for the interviews by jotting down questions on a notepad or in OneNote. Only once do I recall using a formal interview guide.
Many of the people I interviewed I knew in some way. They were people I saw in the elevators, in the break room, during company-wide volunteer days, or at all-employee meetings. We shared a common vocabulary, lived the same company culture, and knew the company values by heart. For me it was fascinating to hear how their work fit into the big picture of the company — for projects and in general.
I walked to the whiteboard, and began to write my name. As I rounded out the last “a” in “Ella,” a thought occurred to me: this wasn’t my last company. I hadn’t done this before. Each project at Center Centre is different, and so is my role now.
The familiarity of knowing isn’t there. In a way, that can be exciting.
But —
The current project challenged me in different ways, including a new and unknown domain and vocabulary. Although we had very informative kickoff calls with the client, I was still struggling to really understand context.
Moving forward despite ambiguity is uncomfortable for me, but not new. The clarity would come later, and only by asking questions.
I no longer worked for a company where years of experience provided the comfort of context. I couldn’t do things the way I had before.
My circumstances changed, and I would need to, also.
To be ready, I’d have to prepare in a different way.
And that can be scary.
Preparing for Success: Research First
My first goal was to find out what types of questions to ask in stakeholder interviews and why. When starting from a place of not-knowing, I’ve found the best way to approach a problem is to learn about it. Professionally, I was trained to research first, then ask questions. It reveals questions I didn’t know I had. This method also facilitates better discussions with others.
To guide me as I scoured resources, I crafted an objective for the interviews. It stated why the interviews were necessary and the desired outcome.
I picked the most relevant questions from the resources I found based on my objective. Then, I wrote additional questions that would be useful for this project.
I began to create a resource list to keep sources I found helpful. This wouldn’t be the last time I wrote a stakeholder interview guide. The next time I create a guide, this list (and the guide) will be where I’ll start.
Different Perspectives, Better Questions
When you’re trying to formulate good research questions, it isn’t possible for one person to think of everything.
My cohort has 6 different people with different backgrounds and experiences. Over the last year, we’ve learned how to use that diversity to improve our ideas and approaches. This increases our chances of successful project outcomes.
While I’m working on the stakeholder interviews, my teammates are working on other research activities. The information they need is different. I realized I needed to involve them, too.
We use the KJ Technique often (and in experimental ways). I suspect it’s because KJs are like a microcosm of the Double Diamond Process. We contribute as individuals (diverge), then we have conversations holistically (converge).
For the KJ I led, we focused on important questions for the first round of interviews. Next, questions were grouped by theme. Then, we used dot-voting to determine priority in the interview guide. I compiled the results and added them to the guide.
I was confident I’d written a solid first draft based on my research. The KJ opened my eyes to key questions I’d missed. After revising the guide to include the team’s questions, it was even better.
I felt pretty good. Until…
Plot Twist! New Information, A New Approach
It was less than three days before the stakeholder interviews. My interview guide was done. I focused on refining it, creating my pre-interview checklist, and preparing for the dry run.
At the same time our next course was starting. Like others in my cohort, I was excited. Jared Spool, Center Centre’s co-founder, would teach our Business of UX workshop.
It was after two days of business-focused UX training, that it happened. I looked at the stakeholder interview guide with new eyes.
We often look at work we’ve done previously through the new knowledge from our workshops. We analyze, synthesize, and iterate on that work. With my new “Business of UX” lens, I saw a good guide for a general Q&A session — not a stakeholder interview. I didn’t have questions about the client’s strategy, or pain points, and how our work fit into that.
Those questions were in my resources. I didn’t know if or how to have those conversations when I started the guide, so I hadn’t included them.
I panicked.
I would need to re-write the guide before the interviews began.
My first interview was 9:30am the next day.
I’m thankful Center Centre has such amazing co-founders; Jared noticed the panic sinking in as I questioned the work I’d done.
I accepted Jared’s offer to help and scheduled time for us to meet. He reviewed what I had and we talked about my goals and approach. Jared told me what I did well and shared tips on asking questions and framing the session. It challenged how I looked at the interview for the better.
Between the workshop and my conversation with Jared, there was a lot of new information for me to process. I was glad to have a senior UX practitioner to help me course-correct and be more effective. Being flexible and willing to make the changes — even up to the the time the first interview started — helped me produce an effective stakeholder interview guide.
Looking Back
I researched, involved my team, and was open to new information and change. As a result, I conducted stakeholder interviews that answered our project questions.
My team told me the interviews were successful. We all were able to gain a lot of insight we hadn’t had before. For me, I felt more confident now that I had the context I’d been missing. This accomplished my objective.
This process taught that previous experience doesn’t guarantee success. It’s important to be flexible — especially when you’re learning.
Sometimes, previous experience is a bonus. It provides a foundation that informs your method and approach.
This experience will help me prepare for the next stakeholder interview.
But, each project, problem, process will be different. It will require looking beyond what you did before to what can, and should, shape how you approach it this time around.
“You learn. You iterate. You do.” Leslie Jensen-Inman, Center Centre co-founder says.
And I’ll continue to do exactly that.
Curious about the complete list of resources I found in my research? View the list here.
