Please be sure to go into the meeting with the mindset that you, the design team, are running the meeting. You should have a clear plan about what you want to talk about and how you want to talk about it. In the past, some student groups have been somewhat steamrolled by design clients who are very talkative, or who have particular ideas they wish to share with the team to the exclusion of other discussion. This is often quite counterproductive!
If you feel things are going off the rails, don’t be afraid to politely share that you’ve got an agenda that you want to be sure to work through. (And then get back to your agenda!)
This is not an agenda that you should copy verbatim and use for your meeting. Rather, it’s meant to be a jumping-off point for your own interview planning.
Introduction/icebreaker
Introduce yourselves by name, sharing something that reflects a personal value, interest, or other bit of relevant data about your life which will help establish a personal connection. E.g., how long have you been in Pittsburgh, and what do you like about living here? Etc.
Ask your client to participate in turn, sharing their name, their interest in participating in this group activity, and prompt them with the same question(s) that you all answered to begin.
Ask the client why they volunteered for this project as well, perhaps. What drew them to want to participate?
Explanation and clarification about project goals
You want to be sure to be on the same page about this project. Explain in clear terms what it is we’re trying to do, and what we’re not trying to do.
We are:
Trying to build prototype useful devices
Engaging in an iterative design process, including gathering formative feedback around the midpoint of the process
Taking about three months to go from this meeting to a reasonably high-fidelity final product
Documenting our process
We are not:
Professional technologists who are experienced in making polished products
Planning to build something that will be sold commercially
Constrained by any practicality outside of usefulness to the person we’re designing for
Likely to invent a totally novel piece of electronics (we combine many existing available components in new ways, but don’t make components)
Give a quick timeline overview of the process
Be sure to solicit questions: ask “do you have any questions?” or “does this make sense?”, etc., as you’re going through this section
Understanding needs and thinking of possible technological interventions
This is the meat of the meeting, but it’s also the hardest part.
There are a broad variety of approaches that you could take. Some possibilities:
Ask your client directly if they have any activities in their daily life that are difficult, frustrating, or otherwise seem like they could use an intervention. This direct question may bear some fruit, but you will probably need to do some probing and ask questions to guide the answering.
Ask if they’d be willing to demonstrate a daily task or a series of tasks to you during the meeting. They can actually do the task if it’s something simple like getting a glass of water, or they may pantomime the task. The closer to reality this action is, the more likely you are to find a particular aspect of the task that’s harder than it needs to be.
Have the client try to think of something that they used to enjoy doing, which has become harder over time for any reason. Are there creative ways to make that thing easier to do now?
Use the simple creative act of drawing to bring out ideas: ask the client to draw a map or cartoon of their daily life, or have them narrate the action and do the drawing yourself in a way that’s visible to the group. It could be a map (literal map, showing travels), a sequence of cartoon panels (first I do this, then I do this), or take a more abstract form.
In general, using a shared drawing-surface tool so that everybody can simultaneously contribute to and see others’ ideas is a great idea.
Think of this as making a “convenience machine”, one that reduces one of the little annoyances we all have, maybe call it a “gadget”? Language is important.
As you’re having this part of the discussion, document it as much as possible. At least one person should be taking notes, and at least one other person should be taking occasional pictures (certainly if the client is demonstrating something it should be documented).
Share thoughts and ideas as they come up, but don't try to leapfrog into ideation in a distracting way.
Keep, and document, any artifacts generated from this meeting. This includes photos, screenshots and/or saving any drawings/models/etc.
Regardless of your particular process, try to move towards some more concrete ideas after you’ve given the open ideation enough time. It’s best to have more than one possible idea moving out of this meeting so that you can funnel down later into narrower possibilities, instead of trying to invent new possibilities later.
Conclude
Thank your client for their time, make sure they have your contact information, and gather any final documentation images/drawings/notes you may need to wrap up before closing.
Reiterate the overall project schedule if you feel it would be necessary to clarify before leaving.
Below are some relevant passages from chapter 2 of Steve Portigal’s book Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights (Rosenfeld Media, 2013).
There’s often a visceral point in the interview where the exchange shifts from a back-and-forth of question-and-answer, question-and-answer to a question-story setup. It’s such a tangible shift in the interview that I feel as if I can point to it when it happens. Stories are where the richest insights lie, and your objective is to get to this point in every interview.
The thing about this tipping point is that you don’t know when it’s coming. So you have to be patient in the question-and-answer part of the interview because you don’t necessarily know that what you’re doing to build rapport is getting you anywhere. You have to trust in the process, which is easier with experience. (p. 24; my emphasis)
When you engage in conversation, you’re often thinking about what you want to say next and listening for the breathing cues that indicate it’s your turn to speak. As you jockey for your 51% of the conversation space, listening becomes a limited resource. Although we all like to consider ourselves “good listeners,” for interviewing you must rely on a very special form of listening that goes beyond the fundamentals, such as “don’t interrupt.”
Listening is the most effective way you can build rapport. It’s how you demonstrate tangibly to your participants that what they have to say is important to you. (p. 24)
Listen by Asking Questions
In addition to demonstrating listening by what you don’t say, you can also demonstrate that you are listening by what you do say. The questions you ask are signifiers that you are listening. Try to construct each question as a follow-up to a previous answer. If you are following up on something other than what the participant just said, indicate where your question comes from. For example, “Earlier, you told us that…” or “I want to go back to something else you said….” Not only does this help the person know that you’re looping back, it also indicates that you are really paying attention to what they are telling you, that you remember it, and that you are interested. If you are going to change topics, just signal your transitions: “Great. Now I’d like to move on to a totally different topic.” (p. 25)
Be Aware of Your Body Language
Make and maintain eye contact with your participant. If you find eye contact personally challenging, take breaks and aim your gaze at their face, their hands, and items they are showing you. Use your eyes to signal your commitment to the interview. Acknowledge their comments with head nods or simple “mm-hmm” sounds. Be conscious of your body position. When you are listening, you should be leaning forward and visibly engaged. When you aren’t listening, your body tells that story, too. (p. 25)