BA Techniques: Interviews

Purpose

An interview is a systematic approach designed to elicit business analysis information from a person or a group of people by talking to the interviewee, asking relevant questions and documenting the responses. The interview can also be used for establishing relationship and building trust between business analysts and stakeholders in order to increase the stakeholder involvement or build support for a proposed solution.

Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®)

Interview is one of the most important technique in business analysis. They can be used to verify the facts, clarify ambiguity, trigger enthusiasm, engage end users, identify requirements, and the opinions and ideas. It is used to get more information from the people in an formal or informal setting by asking questions and documenting the responses. The process of interview is not ideal for every situation. Interviews offer the analyst an opportunity to establish and trust with the stakeholder. It allow the stakeholder to respond freely and openly, especially when the location is private. It provide an opportunity for the analysts to ask the questions to get the instant feed back from the stakeholder. By conducting a fact-to-face meeting, the analyst can start a cordial relationship with the stakeholder to make them feel involved in the project.

In an interview, the interviewer directs the questions to the stakeholders in order to obtain the information. The interview is a common technique for eliciting the requirements. It involves direct communication with the individuals or a group of people who are part of an initiative. There are two basic types of interviews. They are,

• Structured Interview - in which the interviewer has the predefined set of questions.
• Unstructured Interview - in which the interviewer does not have the predetermined set of questions and it may vary based on the stakeholder responses and interactions.

The success of the interview technique depends on level of understanding the domain, experience in conducting the interview, documenting the discussions, providing the relevant information, and the clarity of the domain.

• Interview Skills - https://www.fip.org/files/ypg/Project%20Documents/career%20development/CareerDevelopment-Interviews.pdf
• Interviewing Methods - http://www.public.asu.edu/~kroel/www500/Interview%20Fri.pdf
• Interviewing Skills and Techniques - http://www.olin.edu/sites/default/files/01_skillsandtech.pdf
• Interviewing Practices - https://medium.com/swlh/the-best-interviewing-techniques-and-practices-explained-61cf41c3175
• Effective Interviewing Techniques - https://www.ebookphp.com/effective-interviewing-and-interrogation-techniques-2-epub-pdf/
• Interview Tips - https://www.michigan.gov/documents/interview_26251_7.pdf
• A Guide for Interview - http://www2.pathfinder.org/site/DocServer/m_e_tool_series_indepth_interviews.pdf
• Strategies in Interviewing - https://www.mcgill.ca/familymed/files/familymed/motivational_counseling.pdf
• Successful Interview Techniques - https://www.ldsjobs.org/ers/ct/articles/successful-interview-techniques?lang=eng
• Importance of Interview - https://bizfluent.com/about-7542157-importance-interview-techniques.html
• Advanced Interviewing Techniques - https://www.coursera.org/learn/interview-techniques/
• Qualitative Interview Techniques - https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_principles-of-sociological-inquiry-qualitative-and-quantitative-methods/s12-02-qualitative-interview-techniqu.html

In some cases the benchmarking statement is used for the better understanding of how the company perform well in previous chapter . It is used to compare the performance of your processes and activities against top performers in a very simple and understandable manner. It comes in two different variations, one that perform the comparison on a monthly basis and the other that perform the comparison on a yearly basis. The benchmark quality defines the companies area of development.

Some of the books for interview techniques are,

• Techniques for Investigating Interview | Ronald P. Fisher | https://www.amazon.com/Memory-Enhancing-Techniques-Investigative-Interviewing-Cognitive/dp/0398061211/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=interview+technique+books&qid=1592216382&sr=8-1