OUGD502 The Interview (Lecture)

The Interview (Lecture):

What is the purpose of an interview?
To record a beneficial and informative interview with a person of my choice. To arrange, format, construct and conduct a meeting that will both inform and enhance my interpersonal skills in a professional manner.

What do I want out of it?
I want to gain more confidence talking to different professionals so that I have more of a drive to ask for help/advice or even to collaborate. I want to understand someones personal journey so that I can learn from them and apply it in my own way to help me develop and grow. I also want to know more about the real world of design so that I can prepare myself for what is to come once I have finished my degree.

Step 1:
Contact my interviewee and give them a reason for my contact and WHY I chose them in particular. I CAN say that it is a college requirement BUT I must explain the reason they were my particular choice.

Step 2:
Contact my interviewee and arrange a mutual method of connection, in person, Skype, email etc.

Preparation:
Make a list of what I want to get out of the interview and how beneficial it can be for my practice and something that I can produce a tangible outcome, in print or other medium from the interview.

Questions:
- INTRODUCING
'Why did you...?' or 'Can you tell me about...?'
Through these questions I introduce the topic.

- FOLLOW UP
Through these I can elaborate on their initial answer.
'What did you mean...?' or 'Can you give more detail...?'

- PROBING
I can employ direct questioning to follow up what has been said and to get more detail.
'Do you have any examples?' or 'Could you say more about...?'

- SPECIFYING
'What happened when you said that?' or 'What did he say next?'

- DIRECT
Questions with a yes or no answer are direct questions.
I might want to leave these questions until the end so I don't lead the interviewee to answer a certain way.

- INDIRECT
I can ask these to get the interviewee's true opinion.

- STRUCTURING
These move the interview on to the next subject. 
For example, 'Moving on to...'

- INTERPRETING
'Do you meant that...?' or ' Is it correct that...?'

1. Start slow, safe and personal.
Begin with a question that focuses on the person and not the topic at hand, such as: 'Where did you grow up,' or 'What was your first job out of college?' First off, you relax your subject and you humanise the interaction. This relaxes the atmosphere, starts the conversation on safe ground, and let's you get a sense of the where your subject is coming from. Second, I might get a surprisingly good story.

2. Coax, don't hammer.
My audience is too sophisticated and businesslike for complexities, the Post Modernist questions, their feeling on life after death?
The up-close, but soft style that coaxes revealing newsworthy, useful answers.

3. Make some questions open ended.
All interviews require you to ask specific questions that get answered with narrow data points.
'What was your last job title?'
The most interesting responses can come from open-ended questions, such as, 'What is your vision for your organisation five years from today?' or 'Do you worry about any unintended consequences from what you are trying to accomplish?'

4. Ask what you don't know.
Surprises mean I will achieve something that has not been previously reported.

5. Let the interviewees wander a bit, but be careful.

6. Don't send advance questions.
Make clear the topics that I wish to cover and even ask if there are other subjects the interviewee would like to discuss. 
But don't send full questions in advance.
The result is that very little new ground is covered.
It also eliminates follow-up questions, the ones that drill down on what was or was not said in the response. Very often the followup question produces the best information.

7. Be prepared. Find the overlooked.
Quite often a subject's response to one question begs for a follow up. Many times the follow-up question reveals more than either the interviewer or interviewee expected. I can't just make that happen when Im following a script. When you do that, your mind very often goes on to your next question and you are not listening carefully to what your subject is saying. Be prepared and let the subject know what subjects you want to cover.

8. Listen, really listen.
The value of an interview comes out of what people say not what you ask.
The key is to pay close attention to what is not answered and make on-the-spot judgements on why that are was skipped or glossed.
Was it uninteresting to the subject?
Unimportant? Painfully embarrassing?
Use good judgement.

9. There are dumb questions.
Try NOT to ask a question that your subject has already answered. It discloses that you really weren't listening after all. Also try not to ask any questions that are answered in the interviewee's online biog or website/blog FAQ.

The interview is about the person I am talking to, NOT me.

Some good questions I could include in my interview:
- What's the best advice you ever received?
- Who inspires you and why?
- What's the hardest lesson you ever learned?
- Describe a defining moment in you life.
- What is your biggest accomplishment?
- Do you have a personal motto?