Stakeholder interviews are valuable research tools used to kick-start the design process. They focus on extracting information from three main areas in UX design:

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• User needs: How will the design help the users?

• Business goals: How will the design support business objectives?

• Technical limitations: What technical obstacles need to be overcome?

 

Here’s how I plan and conduct a successful stakeholder interview.

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Establish Goals:
I usually start my UX research by setting goals for the stakeholder interview, namely, what you want to find out from interviewees. Below are key bits of information that I want to know by the end of the conversation:

• What are the short- and long-term business goals?

• What is the stakeholder’s role in the company?

• Who are the users?

• What are a few major competitors?

• Are there any technological limitations?

• What are a few product concerns?

• What is the stakeholder’s definition of product success?

 

Find Stakeholders:
The very essence of stakeholder interviews is to locate key figures and extract as much useful information from them as you can. 
A good rule of thumb is to speak to the people who spend the most time using the product.
In my case, speaking with a founder and few executives was sufficient.

 

Prepare Questions:
In most situations, the best types of questions are open-ended because these require interviewees to go into more detail, thus providing greater insight. Closed-ended questions, in contrast, can only elicit a yes/no response, which won’t be very useful in your research.

• Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

• What kind of work do you do?

• Are you using any other app to manage your work? What is the advantage?

• Approximately how much time does it take to finish a single transaction manually?

• Do you find it difficult to manage active and closed transactions manually?

• How many people from your team manage/work on a single transaction?

• How do you communicate with your colleagues to discuss an Active transaction?

 

Document and Analyze Responses:
I usually record my interview session. Doing so lets you stay focused on the flow of the interview without having to worry about whether you capture every answer word for word. Then I start analyzing individual interviews and then move on to examine them collectively. I write up a report to summarise everything and try to organize my research findings into categories:

• Business

• Users

• Problems

• Fears

• Motives

• Competitive advantages

• Solutions

• Alternatives

This helps me to define UX milestones and objectives.

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