Day 4: Talk to them

[Day 4/30: Product Manager to CEO 30 Day Challenge]  Interviewing customers is by far the most valuable way to get insight into their needs and wants, and it can be a lot of fun. But requesting time for someone is often hard, and when someone does give you 10 or even 30 minutes of their time, it's important to have a plan in place. To help you get the most out of your time with your interviewees, we've compiled this list of tips for creating discussion guides.

1. Get to know the person you're interviewing. It's important to understand their background and experience so that you can formulate questions that are relevant to them—and avoid asking questions that are outside of their expertise or experience level.

2. Create a discussion guide. Make sure you have a clear objective for this interview. Don't try to ask too many questions or take the interview in different directions. Identify what you want to get out of this conversation, and build your questions ahead of time to guide the discussion.

3. Ask open-ended questions! Don't let your own opinions get in the way of what they're saying. Try not to interrupt or finish their sentences for them—that can feel really invasive!

Do diligent note taking. If you're conducting the interview with a co-worker, let only 1 person run the interview while the other takes notes. If you're the only one running the interview, ask the interviewee if they would be open to being recorded so you can process the conversation later.