User:Marc Wiki Rademakers/Requirements Interviews

Requirements interviews, also known as requirements-gathering interviews, is a method used to gather information about the needs and goals of stakeholders in a project. Interviews are the most traditional and commonly used requirements elicitation technique. They are typically conducted by a project manager or business analyst and involve interviewing stakeholders who will be affected by the project. A requirements interview aims to gather detailed information about the project's objectives, constraints, and requirements. This information is then used to create a requirements document, which serves as the foundation for the project's design and development. The results or requirements gathered from interviews depend heavily on the interviewer's skills and requires a well designed interview. There are guidelines the interviewer can use which explain how to prepare for the interview, how to conduct the interview, and what to do to follow up. There are best practices that can help the interviewer in taking the right approach with requirements interviews in different situations. Lastly, solutions are proposed for common mistakes interviewers make when conducting interviews.

Guidelines
Designing an interview can be a hard task and it is easy to forget important parts. This can lead to imprecise and incomplete interviews caused by ambiguity in communication. The interview questions are mostly open-ended and focused on understanding the stakeholders' needs and goals, rather than on specific solutions. They can take various forms, such as one-on-one interviews, focus groups, or survey questionnaires, and are inherently informal. Interviews can be divided into three main interview types: unstructured, structured and semi-structured. Conducting an interview consists of three steps:

Prepare for the interview
Before conducting an interview, it is important to prepare properly. This includes defining the purpose of the interview, selecting the right person for the interview, researching the interviewee, developing a list of questions, and arranging the logistics. To define the purpose of the interview, the interviewer needs to understand why the interview is being conducted and how the interviewee will benefit. Select the right person for the interview, based on their knowledge and perspectives. Researching the interviewee entails gathering both professional and personal information. Decide upon using open or closed questions and ask both domain knowledge and process knowledge questions. As for logistics, choose the location, contact the interviewee to schedule the meeting, and add the meeting to the interviewer's schedule with a meaningful description. Also consider online meetings are also an option.

Conduct the interview
Before starting an interview, it is important to build rapport with the interviewee and lay out expectations. This can provide insights into the interviewee's mindset, help create relationships on multiple levels, and ensure that all parties understand the goal and expectations of the interview. During the interview, ask meaningful questions to focus on what needs to be learned. Use active listening to turn stated requirements into actual requirements. It is important to listen for the underlying intent, feelings, and needs of the interviewee. It is also important to take notes using the purpose of the interview as a guideline. This includes using the purpose of the interview as a guideline to decide how to take notes and choosing the appropriate tools, such as a notepad, pen, paper, etc. Take time to wrap up the interview and to save time for a proper conclusion. Summarizing what was covered and thanking the interviewee for their time is also essential. Following up on any items discussed during the interview is important in order to ensure that all parties have a clear understanding of the conversation.

Follow up
At the end of the interview, thank the interviewee for their time and participation. Check notes taken during the interview before following up to ensure that all important information has been captured. This step is important as it helps to identify any missing or unclear information that may need further clarification or elaboration.

Mistakes
An empirical study by Bano et al. aimed to identify common mistakes made by novices during their first requirements elicitation interviews. The study involved 110 post-graduate students in the University of Technology Sydney, who were teamed up in 28 groups to conduct requirements elicitation interviews with a business owner (played by an experienced academic). The study identified 34 unique mistakes classified into 7 high-level themes and provides examples of mistakes made by the novices to assist educators and trainers. The following mistakes are made during requirements interview (based on the study by Bano et al.):

Question formulation

 * Vague questions : It is good to use open-ended questions, but avoid them from being vague or ambiguous. If it is the case that the interviewee does not understand your question, change it. Estimate if the interviewee understands the question, because it is likely that they will answer the question either way.
 * Technical questions: Try avoiding technical jargon or concepts. There is a high chance that the interviewee is not a computer or information scientist. Adjust the question such that the interviewee understands it.
 * Irrelevant or incorrect questions: Avoid questions that are out-of-scope as this costs time. For example: Asking a question that relates to employee wages, while the interviewee has said that employee wages are not of your concern. Avoid questions that focus too direct on the solution as this can confuse the interviewee. Instead work towards the solution by asking question that can lead to a solution. Avoid long questions.

Question omission
Not asking for additional stakeholders. This often happens and important stakeholders are being left out. Always take into account the possibility that your interviewee knows only part of the information. Ask who the interviewee about potential stakeholders No probing questions. Always ask probing question to make sure you understand the answer, when you understood something, but also when you suspect you misunderstood something. Rephrase it with your own terms. This makes it easier when reading back the interview. Not asking about the existing system or process. It is crucial that the as-is situation is understood. Not asking about feature priority: Take into account that some features have a higher priority than others. This way the features with higher priorities can get more attention rather than focusing on features with lower priority. Not asking about the problem domain: Document the problem domain yourself and ask when domain-specific terms are used.

Order in the interview
Make sure that the order of the topics you cover in your interview are logical. Ask for example first about the bigger picture, and then go into more detail. Or ask welcome questions like the name of the interviewee before questions about the product. Do not go back and forth among topics. Finish off a topic before moving on to a new one. However it sometimes may be necessary to clear previous topics up.

Communication skills
Effective communication is crucial for analysts during customer interviews to ensure a shared understanding. The analyst must put in extra effort to bridge the semantic gap and draw out the customer's tacit knowledge. However, effective communication can be a recurring challenge for analysts when dealing with customers and is a common issue in the requirements elicitation process.
 * Unnatural dialogue style: When talking to interviewees, it's important to speak in a natural manner and let them lead the conversation. Ask questions that will help you understand their thoughts and feelings, without making them feel like they are being interrogated. This will help create a more natural dialogue and give you the chance to really get to know the person.
 * Language-related issues: Are you a non-native speaker interviewer? Practice your pronunciation upfront to minimize mistakes and try to speak in a correct and clear way. Native speaker? Try to speak clearly and avoid grammar mistakes.
 * Low and unclear tone: Make sure that the interviewee can hear you. Test upfront if you speak with the right volume. Make sure that you speak with the right tone. Speaking with an unclear low tone can be irritating and does not imply that you want to know the information that you are asking.
 * Poor listening skills: Always listen carefully to what the interviewee has to say and react to his/her words. An interview is a conversation, not an interrogation.

Analyst behavior
The way analysts conduct themselves during interviews can affect the customer's perspective and how they respond. In particular, if the analyst displays overconfidence, it can lead to a flawed understanding of the problem area and hinder the analyst's ability to consider alternative or contradictory information.
 * Confidence: Lack of confidence. Do not underestimate yourself and do not let the interviewee give the idea that you will do a bad job. Overconfidence and arrogance. It is an interview where you try to retrieve information from the project stakeholders you work for. Do not act like you have all the answers already.
 * Passive attitude: Always make sure you participate actively in the conversation by reacting properly to answers. Be the lead in the interview.
 * Unprofessional behavior: Always stay professional. It may happen that you create a relationship with your stakeholder over a longer period of time. However it is important to keep in mind that a requirements elicitation interview is a work task. Being professional helps to keep you focused and gets you the most from the interview.

Interaction with the interviewee
The effectiveness of an interview depends greatly on the interaction between the analyst and customer. It falls on the analyst to establish a welcoming atmosphere that encourages open communication with the customer.
 * Common mistakes: Not creating rapport. It is good to start with small talk to get to know the interviewee. Understand how the interviewee is feeling. Create a bond and show that you are a nice person. Do not influence the interviewee with your own thoughts and opinions.

Planning
Not having a planned choreopraphy of task divisions for taking notes and asking questions while conducting the interview are mistakes made during design and execution of the interview. This can result in gathering the wrong requirements.
 * Common pitfalls: Poor time management, e.g., too fast or too slow. Lack of preparation on the domain. Lack of interview planning. Long pauses during the interview.