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Successfully Interviewing Your Project Customer and Gathering Project Requirements - Part X - Model of Interview Questions

December 23, 2007 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Project Management Best Practices, Requirements Management

Successfully Interviewing Your Project Customer and Gathering Project Requirements - Part X - Model of Interview Questions (#10 in the series Successfully Interviewing Your Project Customer and Gathering Project Requirements)
By Keith Mathis - PM Expert Live

Let’s look at some model questions that will help organize your interview and give you numerous options for being able to ask the customer the right question at the right time. These areas are only a suggestion, and it is possible that only a portion of these will be used during a customer interview. There is no reason for you to assume you must use every question in every interview.

It is not realistic to think you must go through all the questions or use them in a particular sequence. Interviewing a customer is customized to the customer, his or her communication style, and how open he or she is to this interview. There are times you will return to some of these model questions and ask them all differently to see whether or not the customer is giving the exact same answer.

The important thing to remember while using these questions is that they are a model. The goal is to understand exactly what the customer desires from this project before you leave.

There are five different model question groups which will assist you in being able to gather requirements and design questions to ascertain the correct information at the right time from the customer. Each model group can have multiple questions. Remember that during the interview process, it is not necessary to use every model group to gain information. These are only given as a possible resource so you have the capability of asking a variety of questions to gather the much needed specifics of the project.

Data Questions

Data questions are designed to give you the specific data that is needed to drive the project forward. In many cases, the data you are gathering could be historical information of similar past projects. In addition, the data you are seeking may be analysis information that the customer has already conducted prior to making a decision to do this project. This information will help to minimize your analysis time, as well as look for gaps in what the customer has already examined.

The two questions below are examples of open-ended questions to get your customer talking and to give you some of the background information that will help to gather deeper data about your upcoming project.

  • What kind of data and reports will need to be produced?
  • Describe how your process uses the data now?

Best/Least Questions

Best and least questions are designed to allow you to see the extremes in the customer’s thinking. Best and least opens up the capability of being able to allow your customer to measure verbally highlights of what they want in their project compared to areas they think should not be there.

In addition, these questions allow you to have an insight into what and how the customer is measuring success. It is possible, without best and least questions, to present a project back to the customer and have him or her evaluate it as a failure due to the fact that you have included information or created an unwanted situation. Best and least questions allow you to know about the potential parameters prior to starting or even completing the project.

The following are examples of best and least questions.

  • What is the best thing about your past service provider?
  • What do you like least about your provider?

Defining Pain Questions

Pain questions are designed to allow the customer the opportunity for sharing his or her challenges. It is during this section of questioning that you are able to define the highest frustrations of your customer, which is probably going to have a powerful impact on the project.

You want to make sure you listen very intently to the hurdles the customer has faced with this project and what is to be solved. Pain questions are the questions most likely missed in an interview. It is not uncommon for project managers to gather proper data, budget, and high-level details on the project, but miss the pain questions. In many cases, the customer is going to look at the project through the eyes of past pain.

Pain questions allow you to see a performance, a system, or a personnel issue that has caused pain in the past. You must thoroughly understand what has brought the customer pain, or it is possible you will misdiagnose the solution for this project and provide the customer something he or she will never use and for which there is no intention of paying. Below are sample pain questions.

  • What kind of productivity do you feel you are receiving from your employees?
  • Are you facing these challenges now?
  • Detail the amount.
  • Can you give me some examples?
  • What would be good for me to know?

Situation Questions

Situation questions allow you an opportunity to give a scenario as an example to your customer and ask for feedback. Situation questions can be used with any circumstance to make sure you have correctly understood the customer and vice versa. For example, you can say Mr. Customer, “If your project was able to do this function in a way that pleases you, would you look at it as a success?” This allows you to get the customer looking at the project from a situation approach and to understand how he or she will evaluate it.

Below are samples of situation questions.

  • Explain to me how this is being accomplished today.
  • In the present process, how is this handled?
  • “What if” questions can be a very impactive way of confirming the customer’s statements.
  • What if this happens?
  • What if we tried to do this?
  • What if we gave you this and this?

Dr. Keith Mathis, founder and CEO of The Mathis Group, specializes in Project Management, Management Leadership, and Marketing training for private businesses and government agencies of all kinds. He offers 33 Project Management courses, is a Project Management Professional, is certified by the Project Management Institute and will customize every training session to your individual company’s needs. The Mathis Group also sponsors www.pmexpertlive.com, which is a powerful project management resource with free reports, podcasts, videos, and a monthly newsletter. He also offers customized management training and coaching on any subject with prolific communication and professionalism.

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