Chapter 9
Interviewing
In This Chapter:
Requirements Elicitation Interview Types
Benefits of Requirements Elicitation Interviews
Tips for Successful Requirements Elicitation Interviews
Rules for Effective Requirements Elicitation Interviews
Tailoring Requirements Elicitation Interviews
Interviewing is a systematic, objective method for quickly collecting information from a person or group of people in an informal or formal setting by asking scripted questions. The primary purpose is to gain an understanding of high-level needs, constraints, and assumptions. Interviews are designed to address some of the communication challenges that either cause delay in getting requirements from stakeholders or cause a decrease in the quality of the information gathered. These communication challenges include:
Inadequate information provided to the project team
Too much information in a form that cannot be understood by a key stakeholder
Unaddressed cultural differences
Perceptions and personalities of presenters and stakeholders
Technical vocabulary usage
Filtering of information based on the experience of the facilitator
Preoccupation of the stakeholder due to other messages conflicting with the presentation
Lack of openness and trust between project stakeholders
Requirements Elicitation Interview Types
Several different types of interview approaches are commonly used on projects, including:
Personal interviews are sessions in which scripted questions are asked, with the answers documented. This approach uses exploratory questions on topics that might change requirements, create new requirements, or uncover assumptions, constraints, and/or business rules. Interviews are not typically used to document voluminous information that is considered background and context setting.
Job shadowing involves walking through a workday with a target user group or watching an individual user perform a specific job task.
Customer site visits can be useful in understanding the operational environment in which the end-user performs. The goal is to discover prerequisites for job success, preconditions for tasks, or specific business rules that govern job execution.
Task analysis involves asking end-users to walk through their current jobs. Users can provide work instructions that are useful in describing the current or as-is process. As in interviews, the observer uses exploratory questions to understand what works well and what doesn’t work well in the current environment. The goal is to identify the essential tasks or the most frequent tasks. Ways to enable these tasks become priority features for any new or enhanced solution.
Benefits of Requirements Elicitation Interviews
Skilled interviewers adapt the interview to the current situation and improve the quality of the project information by understanding that interviews provide a context to see and decode both verbal and nonverbal information provided by stakeholders. Verbal communication is what literally is said or communicated in words during the interview. Nonverbal communication is how the information is relayed, including the tone and pacing of words, body language and facial expressiveness, eye movement, and the body gestures or postures that accompany the actual words expressed during the interview.
Interviews can be used to uncover conflicts and discrepancies about stated needs or requirements. This is accomplished by using a problem-probing manner, not a confrontational style. In addition, interviewing can be used to secure agreement from stakeholders that existing requirements documentation is accurate. Table 9-1 shows the benefits versus the disadvantages of elicitation interviews.
Tips for Successful Requirements Elicitation Interviews
Business analysts can improve their ability to read and interpret both verbal and nonverbal communication and build rapport with stakeholders by following the recommendations that follow. To improve verbal communication:
Ask prepared questions to gather information consistently.
Match the pace of the interviewees. If they are cautious, talk slowly. If they are in a hurry, talk quickly.
Check understanding often.
Ask for examples of their issues and document screen shots or names of stakeholders with particular challenges.
Let interviewees know what will be done with the information.
Table 9-1—Benefits versus Disadvantages of Elicitation Interviews
| Benefits of Elicitation Interviews | Disadvantages of Elicitation Interviews |
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To improve nonverbal listening behavior:
Display interest in the subject.
Listen for the person’s perspective.
Respect the person’s time by not being late to the interview or running over.
Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.
Plutarch, Greek biographer and moralist (46 AD-120 AD)
Rules for Effective Requirements Elicitation Interviews
The business analyst should keep several rules in mind when conducting interviews:
Table 9-2—Closed Versus Open-Ended Questions
| Closed Question | Reworded Open-Ended Question |
| “Do you like the current system?” Issue: This might elicit a yes or no answer, and then you need to quickly create another question. | “Tell me about how you use the system (or product or service)?” This encourages them to talk in their language about what they do. |
| “Tell me the steps you use to create a purchase order.” Issue: There is no question here. The interviewee may feel defensive, as if he has to prove he does know the steps. | “Can you describe the process used to create a purchase order?” This is broader, and he might talk about who calls him or provides hard copy or e-mail requests. |
| “How do your coworkers create purchase orders?” Issue: This is confusing and sounds like a trap. | “Is there another way to create a purchase order?” |
Make a decision on the type and number of interviews. This decision is usually governed by the business objectives, access to senior stakeholders, and schedule and budget constraints. Plan the interviews to secure just enough information to move on.
Schedule interviews in advance, as getting on someone’s calendars can take days or even weeks.
Prepare for the interview by creating open-ended questions. This is one of the most difficult parts of the interview process. Avoid forming questions that may present judgment or a conclusion. See Table 9-2 for sample closed and open-ended questions.
Prepare and document the format for the interview. The documentation typically contains the following information:
Name of interviewee
Role of person and primary responsibilities
Open-ended questions
Space for answers
Space for interviewers’ insights
Action item box for flagging key pieces of information as a business requirement, user requirement, supplemental requirement, new requirements risk, assumption, or constraint.
Conduct the interview:
With senior management, the challenge is ensuring that the individual has the expertise or formal position to speak for the organization. In matrix organizations, many directors are not able to make commitments for the organization. Ask the person if she can speak for the entire organization or if it is appropriate to also gather information from others.
For all user categories, work with two or three users to get a comprehensive picture.
Create a thank-you script stating that you appreciate the person’s time and involvement and stating how the person’s involvement will help in creating high-quality requirements.
Create a follow-up script telling the person how the information will be used, whether it will be held confidential, and the next steps for follow-up or project involvement.
Use two interviewers, one to ask questions and one to document results.
Allow time in the schedule for both of the interviewers to debrief and document the interview results immediately after the interview is over, while information and impressions are still clear in their minds.
One of the biggest challenges in elicitation is figuring out the best questions to ask.
Sample Questions
| Functional Requirements Questions |
| What are other ways to accomplish this goal? |
| Tell me about your frustrations with this process. |
| What makes a good day? A bad day? |
| If you could wave a wand and make it different, what would the process look like? |
| Nonfunctional Requirements Questions |
| What standards or regulations should we be aware of? |
| Usability Questions |
| Who is going to use the product or process? |
| What purpose is accomplished by using the product or process? |
| What equipment, tools, templates, and inputs do people need to use it? |
| How long should tasks take? |
| How do you define success? |
| Intrusion and Detection Prevention Questions |
| What are actions you take to detect unauthorized system access? |
| What could be done to prevent improper system access? |
| Interface Questions |
| What people do you share information with? |
| What information is passed to other systems? |
| Software Attributes Ranking Questions |
| Safety: How do you plan for safety considerations? |
| Robustness: What fault tolerance systems are important to you? |
| Supportability: What failures cause the organization the most pain? |
| Maintainability: What unexpected system behavior has surprised you? |
| Operations and Maintenance Questions |
| Are there things in the operational environment that I should be aware of? |
| End-of Interview Questions |
| What didn’t I ask that I should have? |
| Was this interview effective? |
| If we could change only one thing about the process, what should it be? |
Tailoring Requirements Elicitation Interviews
Interviews are necessary and valuable for any type of project. The business analyst scales interview activities to the project environment. Table 9-3 shows interview variances scaled to the project profile.
Table 9-3—Interviews Scaled to Project Size, Risk, Complexity
