The interview facilitator usually starts with general questions and then asks more specific ones. At the end of the interview, the facilitator returns to more general questions to provide closure for the interview. Moving from general to specific helps the team achieve required coverage of the reference model and also improves the accuracy of the information collected.
An interview usually starts with context-free, open-ended questions in order to encourage the people being interviewed to explain things from their own perspective and in their own words. These questions provide a wealth of information about the organization, the jobs of the people being interviewed, and any problems in the organization.
Direct questions are then used to ensure coverage of the areas of the model and to probe more deeply into any problem areas that have been identified. Direct questions are used to fill in specifics after the open-ended questions have provided sufficient context to ensure that the questions are relevant.
A sample sequence of questions might include:
- "Will you please tell us about your job and the development activities you participate in?"
- "What are the major risks associated with software/system development on your project?"
- "How are system requirements allocated to software/hardware?"
- "How are changes to requirements handled?"
- "What mechanism is used to review the changes?"
- "Where is that procedure documented?"
- "May we see examples of a few requirement changes?"
- "How would you like to see this process improved?"
In this example, the first two questions are organization-focused. The next questions focus specifically on the Requirements Management KPA/PA in more detail. This set of questions would most likely be used in a group interview, and everyone in the group would be expected to answer all the questions because each individual might be representing a different project.
Everyone being interviewed must be encouraged to be as specific as possible during the interview. Although the team at times may ask open-ended questions, they must ultimately elicit specific answers: examples of how, when, where, and how often a given activity occurs.
People who have had previous experience with assessments, health checks, or gap analyses know the questions they will be asked because they have been through similar interviews before. They may regard the questions as self-evident and become bored, requiring the team members to remind them that (for example) new KPAs/PAs are being investigated.