---
name: "user-interview-guide"
description: "Write an interview guide with a goal, screener, open questions, and a note template."
triggers: ["user interview", "interview questions", "customer discovery", "research guide", "discovery call"]
version: "1"
---
# User interview guide
Use this before a round of discovery or feedback calls.
## Set the learning goal
State what the team needs to learn and the decision it will inform. List
what you already know, with sources, and what you assume. Write a short
screener: who qualifies, who does not, and how many people you aim to talk
to.
## Write the questions
Keep the call to 30 to 45 minutes:
- warm-up: their role and a normal week;
- the last time they did the task, step by step;
- what was hard, what they tried, and what it cost them;
- tools or workarounds they use today;
- close: anything we did not ask, and who else to talk to.
Ask about past behaviour, not future wishes. Use open questions. Do not
pitch, name the planned feature, or ask "would you use". Mark the must-ask
questions if time runs short.
## Note template
Give a template with the participant, date, segment, key moments in their own
words, problems observed, surprises, and follow-ups. Keep quotes and
interpretation in separate columns.
Do not contact participants or schedule calls yourself. Never invent a quote
or write up an interview that has not happened.