Udemy|Identify & Define the Problem with Business Analysis|Problem Identify|Part2|Interview Technique

1. Overview

Interview techique can be done from individual or group maximun 4 peoples. It becomes poppular because it's versatility (tính linh hoạt). You can do it regarless of size your project, method of project.

Pros: Build relationship

• You can able to communicate with people different level, departmet and in different area of expertise.

• You can build trust while interview.

• You can also validate your understanding with them, If it's true, they confirm. If not, they explain or show me true thing. 

Cons: 

Interview take up a lot of time for the stakeholder 

From 45m to 1h30 to interview. If you have some follow up question, it takes up 2h. It's a lot of time to dedicate away from their nomal duties, just to answer some question for you. 

It's very time-consuming for you - as a business analyst

It's time-consuming to prepare all those thing detail, to set up the interview and then conduct them.

It's really hard to analyze to findings (phân tích những phát hiện) 

If you interview 25 people from different department. To try understand how each user interacting with the system or the process or the activity different. It's hard to take those things, which are all writen paragraph notes from yourseft and compare them to each other. It's not easy data comparision. 

So, It's hard to findings and make decision.

Schedule confits

Because time-consuming and need many people. So, it's difficult to schedule date and time interview for you and stakeholders. 

Prepare question

With new business analyst, you are the unintentionally -leading question. you usually give proposing an answer within question.

Ex: "Hey! It's really difficult for you to do process, right?" You implyig that's difficult for them. More than likely they're going to answer "Yeah, a little bit difficult". Even if they don;t think it's hard with them. So, you want to be very careful with your question to make sure that they are in a more-general sense and not leading into an answer. 

2. Type of component to interview

Who's attending it?

It can be a individual or group of people.

You should choose individual interview. Because it helps you better gain rappot. Usualy, You have a specific objective and you've done your reasearch to know who can answer the question, that are gonna get you towards the information that you need.

If you choose group interview. It should be around 2-4 persons. You're really hard to take care of each person and build relationship with them.

Structure or Unstructure Interview?

Structure: You fully plan out the questions that you're gonna to ask. You should brainstorm about "What you wanna ask?| Why you gonna ask it?| What you're looking to learn from it?"

Unstructure: You plan out for couple of question, but you gve more loose plan. You are really driving into have more of conversation that will more you toward reaching whatever your objective is for that interview.

As a new business analyst, you should do the structure interview until you clear understand it. That allow you to wnsure that when you get done, you ask the right question, you got the details you were looking for in order to make some decisions. 

Sychronous or Asychoronous interview? ( đồng bộ hoặc không đồng bộ)

Sychoronous: You are're with them. You're live, it's live, whether it's on video, in person.

Asychoronous: Yoi send your question to them by email, fax,.. And they'll reply you another time. Using this method because you're in a different time zone with another person or can't link up or maybe you don't have a lot of questions. 

3. Planning Overview

You have to think and prepare things:

• What is the best type of interview? And prepare your question to gain objective.

• How much time do you need to allocate? (phân bổ)

• How much of that stakeholder time do you need in order to get information you're looking for?

• What are type of question you gonna ask?

• Record or not?

• Where you should conduct that interview?

3.1. Planning question 

To make the interview to conversation and you can gain information that you're need to, You should start asking about their feelings, and ideas and thoughts on a certain topic. Open-ended questions are those start with How or give. 

Ex: How are you normally notify when you have work to be done?

Give me an example of the time....

Tell me about your feeling ....

That not yes/no question. By asking there question now, they're be explaning and you really want them talking the majority of the time.

Question to they brainstorm, such as:

If you have a magic wand, what would this look like?

Hey! If you have magical power? what would this look like?

Question should be asking because they may have some information that you have not clued in on with your quetion. 

What didn't I ask that I should have? (asking at the end of the interview)

Question helps you to understand if you should be interviewing someboday else or eliciting information from somebody else

Who else should I be asking to about this?

3.2. Planning time (Time Allocation)

How much time do you want set aside to conduct that interview?, Base on:

• How many question are you asking? And what type of information are you looking together?

• The person, are you speak with, are they shy? talker? How hard are you think that you can pull informatuon out of them?

Interview generally run 30 - 90 minutes. If longer, it's difficult to get calendar and take up time for one slot. Recommend planing interview aroun 30 - 45 minutes.

If you're planning 30 minutes for interview with stakeholder. 

You also take on 15 minutes of addionnal time. This is in case the interview run a little long. in case some addtional question, in case you're into a good conservation. 

In addtional 15 minutes for you prepare for this interview. You make sure you rereading all the question, rereading the objective, rereading the stakeholder profile. Just kind of fomulating a plan as to how I'm going to be going about this interview.

In addtional 15 minutes to end of the interview for warpping up. You can finish some quick notes, finish your thoughts on what they were talking about. You can add in some insight on what you was feeling during the interview.

So you're up to total 75 minutes for 30 minutes interview. 45 minutes will be with stakeholder and 30 minutes for personal prepare and wrapping up.

3.3. Recording the session 

Pros:

• Listen back if you need some information or some addtional clarification. You do not always cover the kind of text and what people talking or their feeling.

• You don't take such detail notes, you have much time to interact with stakeholde.

Cons:

• You need to have some caveats. 

• People tend to be less honest and open if they're being record.

If you're going to record, always ask permission. Your interview, you wanna built parrot and trust with them. tell them it's just for your own notes.

When in dout, don't record. 

If you do decide to record, here's a couple best practice.

• Quite place. You need a closet conferrence room.

• Medium in which you're recording. It's just audio, not recommend video - create much pressure on people. Recommend use microphone on Microsoft one note.

3.4. Planning location

High recommend choose conference room. You don't want phone ringsing, email comming in, people walking up and bothering you interview, be away from prying ears. A place where is neutral location, away from you and them. It's not where we usually work. It's just place that we can both go and meet up to have this conversation.

If you're not able to do interview in person, high recommend choose video call by gg meet or zoom,...

Following steps:

Book your conference room in advance

As soon as, you gotten done preparing. You know that who you're meet with, what you're gonna discussing and when that happen. Then book that conference room.

Book 15 minutes before

Where I can also do my preparetion prior to the personal arrving.  

3.5. Finalize planning 

Now that you've completed your preparetion for the interview. You figure out your question, your time allocation, record or not, location to conduct the interview. It's time to finalize all that up.

• You book the location, remember that you wanna book it 15 minutes before and 15 minutes afer the actually reviews to give you time prepare and finalize your note.

• Create calendar appointment for addition time before and after the interview that you send to the interviewee.

• If it's a structure interview. You give them what type of questions you'll ask. This help them understand concept and fomulating some ideas.

3.6. Conduct the interview 

15 minutes before the actually interview, Let's review:

• You make sure you arrive early . Well, if you book 15 minutes early and you get there 15 minutes before interview. You've accomplished that.

• You rereading your objective, what are we talking about? and what are you trying to gain?

• You remember who you're be speaking with and just review all of their details that you have. 

Conducting the interview, Break it up 3 stages:

1. First stages:

Building relationship with them, by:

• Introduce yourself, talking about personal level their job, their family, hobbies, kids, things like that. You're just trying to ask some commonality questions and find some thing in common between you. 

• During the stage, you're also review and explain how the results of the interview be used. Why are you doing this review? and where will those result go? What are you doing with results? Are just for your personal notes and writting report? ... And answer any question that they have.

Objective: They don't be hesitant on answering your question.

2. Second Stage:

• Remember, you want to be conservation not one side. 

• Make sure you stay in line within scope, What you're trying to gian out of this, what object of the interview is? Sometimes out of track a little bit, it's ok becasuse it takes you into an area and explore new value things.

• You have to take notes during the interview, but remember be an active listener; nod; smile;  oh, oke that's cool; wow, that's really near, I never knew that. Let's paying your attendtion.

• Once they get done with a point, make sure you sum it up and repeat it back to them in your own words, to validate your understanding. 

• If you're not quite getting what they're talking about, feel free to have them illustrate (minh hoa), draw it out or demonstrated (biểu diễn) a particular software system. Ig they can demonstrate, ì they can draw it our, and type of visual picture, That's both help you and them. 

• Watch for those noverbal cues. It helps tell you what they really mean behind the words that they're saying. 

• Once you've completed all of your questions, you wanna conclude the interview, and the best two question you have to ask: What didn't I ask that I should have? and Who else should I be asking to about this?

3. Summarize everything up 

• You wanna summarize everything up, sumarize your session, your notices with them. What you've learn and you don't have to go into a ton of detail, should be 3-5 minutes. Where you just telling them about "Hey, this is what we talked about, this is what I learn, What we're doing with this." Make sure they understand and give them thanks for how much of a help they have been. Provide your contact in case they think of anything and hear of anything related that topic in the future. 

• And we use 15 minutes to finalize our notes, make sure finshed all of our thoughts throughout document. We also add in maybe any other insights. So that way you know where your mind set was when you review your notes later. 

• You send them your notes, maybe minus the additional personal thoughts. They may look it ovwe and review, then give one  last validation that's correct. You also give them follow up question, if so. 

37. Template 

Link: 0530_RESOURCE_BobsTowing_InterviewElicitationNotes_BobSmith_01302018.pdf