Ultimate Guide to Interviews #2: Structuring and starting the interview

How to keep your baby in your bag?

Today: How to start the interview so you maximise your learnings?
+ tips on not making things awkward. I often need those.

Chapter overview

1. Goal: Build a customer theory

2. Structuring and starting the interview: Keep your baby in your bag ⬅️ This post

3. Framing the interview

4. Don’t open with problem search

5. Finding emotions and purpose

6. Identify the big picture of your customer

7. Understand criteria of success via competition

8. Using the film reel technique to get detailed explanations

9. Six techniques on how to wiggle out extra information

10. Getting your baby out of the bag

11. Crafting your customer theory

Chapter 2: Keep your baby in your bag

In this chapter:

• A basic structure to interviews in 5 phases

• Two key ideas on how to approach your interview

• Tips on how to make customers want to talk to you and not make things awkward

• Example questions on how to start the interview

How to structure and start an interview?

Any interview, whether it’s 5 minutes or 2 hours, benefits from having a structure. When I mention this in workshops, people often think ‘interview script’ with a set of questions. I’m actually against that. I know, contrarian 🤓, am I right? I’ll explain to you why.