The Interviewing Process


The more detailed the requirements document, the more the scope can be solidified and the more the estimates for the effort can be validated . To accumulate the necessary details in order to understand the business process, the interview team must spend some time interviewing all the stakeholders of the application and studying their environment. When documenting the project requirements, use graphic techniques whenever possible, such as bubble charts , cause-and-effect diagrams, entity-relationship diagrams, star schema models, and even functional decomposition diagrams and data flow diagrams where appropriate. Diagrams make excellent communication tools. Through visualization, the interviewee can better verify the interviewer's understanding of the requirements.

Interviewing Considerations

Before scheduling the interviews, some preparation is required. Figure 4.5 lists items that need to be considered for the interviewing process.

  • Interview team: Preferably, the interviewer should not conduct the interview and take notes at the same time. He or she should team up with a "scribe" who can take notes during the interviews. It is difficult to keep the momentum of the meeting going if you have to ask the questions, write down the answers, and think of the next question to ask all at the same time.

  • Interviewees: Interviews can be conducted with individuals or groups of individuals. Group interviews work well among peers from the same work area if they share similar responsibilities. What one person says often triggers a thought in another person. This synergy can be very productive. The drawback of group interviewing is that some interviewees may not be as honest or forthcoming in their responses. The most effective approach to interviewing is often a balance between individual interviews and group interviews.

  • Research: Before scheduling the interviews, the interviewer should spend some time researching existing documents, reports , and Web sites, including competitors ' Web sites. It helps to have as much understanding as possible of the industry, the business processes, and the organization's terminology and acronyms.

  • Questionnaire: A questionnaire for the major topics should be prepared and mailed to the interviewees before the scheduled interviews. That gives the interviewees a chance to prepare and to bring supporting documentation to the interview.

  • Interview schedule: Do not schedule more than four one-hour interviews per day because it will take at least one hour after each interview to review, fill in, or clarify the interview notes. It is imperative to complete or rewrite the notes taken during an interview on the same day of that interview, so that no ambiguity or incompleteness remains.

Figure 4.5. Items to Consider for the Interviewing Process

graphics/04fig05.gif

Interviewing Tips

The following interviewing practices can make the process run smoothly and effectively:

  • The initial interview should focus on the basic requirements necessary to solve a specific business problem. Do not dwell on any of the mechanical and logistical aspects, and do not promise anything hastily. There will be time to get into detailed analysis later.

  • Frequently, interviewees will be quite comfortable telling you what they currently have, but they can provide only minimal insight into what they want but do not have. Be prepared to guide them with leading questions.

  • Be prepared to hear and resolve conflicting views and priorities. This is especially true when speaking with knowledge workers, business analysts, and business managers from different departments and from different levels of the organizational hierarchy.

  • Taking notes usually involves a fair amount of scribbling (or, if using a laptop, a fair amount of abbreviating). While the discussions are still fresh in the minds of the interviewer and the scribe, they should review the notes immediately after each interview and expand on the scribbles and abbreviations. By the end of the day, the notes must be in such condition that they can be understood several days or weeks later.

  • Tape recording interviews can be very helpful when the interview team consists of only one person. Making a tape allows the interviewer to concentrate on the questioning rather than on note taking. It is imperative to ask the interviewees for their permission to record the interview session. Many interviewees do not like to be recorded, and other interviewees may not be as forthcoming and honest when they know they are being recorded.

  • As soon as time permits after each interview, transcribe the interview notes into a clean interview notes document and send it to all interviewees who participated in that interview for their approval. Ask the interviewees to change any misinterpretations and add anything they forgot to mention during the interview.



Business Intelligence Roadmap
Business Intelligence Roadmap: The Complete Project Lifecycle for Decision-Support Applications
ISBN: 0201784203
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 202

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net