Chapter 3 of 7
Ask what happened, not what people want
Learn to interview people about what really happened, and to watch them work. By the end, you can plan and run an interview that finds the real problem, not a wish list.
- 7 lessons
- A game, a thought experiment and a skills check
- Free, no sign-up
What you'll learn
- 1 Ask about the past, not the future
Why "would you use this?" gets you nothing, and the three rules that get you the truth. With a role-play interview.
About 20 minutes
- 2 Spot the questions that get you nothing
The kinds of question that work, the ones that don't, and how to rewrite a bad one.
About 19 minutes
- 3 Follow the thread people hand you
The best question is often about what the person just said. How to hear it, and what to ask next.
About 19 minutes
- 4 Watch what people do
What you see in an hour that nobody would tell you, and how to write it down so it counts.
About 20 minutes
- 5 Write a plan someone else could run
Who to talk to, what to ask, how to ask for consent, and what to write down, on one page.
About 19 minutes
- 6 Test your skills
Check the key words, then use all five lessons on a new case. One score at the end.
About 21 minutes
- 7 Make your interview kit
The chapter's project: plan one interview, run it with a real person, then mark up your own questions.
About 46 minutes
By the end of this chapter
What you'll make: An interview kit
One page to plan a real interview, run it, and mark up your own questions afterwards.
You make it in lesson 7See what goes in it
Plan one interview with a real person, run it, and mark it up afterwards. Write one page, in plain sentences.
- Research question. What you need to learn, not what you want to build.
- Who and why. Why this person, and what they did recently that makes them worth hearing.
- Five questions about the past. Each starts from something that already happened. No “would you”, no ratings.
- One “show me”. Something you will ask to see.
- Consent. What you will tell them, what you will record, and that they can stop.
- Afterwards. The type of each question you asked, the thread you missed, and what changed your mind.
Along the way: The beetle in a box, a thought experiment from Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, 1953.