Chapter 5: Interviewing

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Chapter 5 Interviewing Joint Application
Development

• Instructor Paul K Chen

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Topics

• Five Steps in Interview Preparation
• Two Types of Questions Open-End vs. Closed
  Questions
• Three Basic ways of Structuring Interviews
• JAD (Joint Application Design (Development))

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Five Steps in Interview Preparation

• Reading background material
• Establishing interview objectives
• Deciding when to interview
• Preparing the interviewee
• Deciding on question type and structure

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Two Types of Questions Open-End Questions vs.
Closed Questions

• Open-ended interview questions
• Open describes the interviewees options for
  responding.
• They are open.
• Advantages
• Putting the interviewee at ease
• Allowing more spontaneity
• Disadvantages
• Possibly losing control of the interview
• May not get the types of answers you want

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Two Types of Questions Open-End Questions vs.
Closed Questions

• Closed interview questions
• Such as How many subordinates do you have?
• Benefits
• Getting to relevant data
• Keeping control over the interview
• Drawbacks
• Failing to obtain rich detail
• Intimidating the interviewee

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Three Basic ways of Structuring interviews

• Pyramid Structure Starting from closed
  questions, then gradually expand into open
  territory.
• Funnel Structure The reverse of pyramid
  structure approach.
• Diamond-Shaped A combination of the two above
  structures.

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JAD (Joint Application Development) vs.
Traditional Way of Gathering Requirements

• JAD sessions (also called facilitated session)
  are used to gather information and feedback and
  confirm the results of requirements gathering.
• JAD sessions replace the traditional way of
  conducting a series of interviews on a one-to-one
  basis with the users.
• Advantages Achieving consensus during the
  session when
• multiple sources of information exist, raising
  and
• addressing issues or assigning them for
  resolution, and
• immediately confirming information.

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JAD Session

• JAD sessions are used to scope the project. Each
  session should last two to three day. They are
  very focused and fast-paced.
• JAD sessions can be very formal and follow strict
  guidelines or be informal group sessions.

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JAD - Roles

• Whether they are formal or informal, there are
  four
• necessary roles to be filled
• Facilitator
• The Facilitator is the session leader. It is the
  facilitators
• responsibility to ensure that the objectives of
  the sessions
• are met.
• Scribes(s)
• Scribes are responsible for recording the minutes
  of the
• session and optionally constructing deliverables
  using an
• automated tool as the session progresses.

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JAD- Roles

• User
• The users provide knowledge specific to the scope
  of the
• project.
• Developers
• Developers are the team members who will be
  building
• the system.

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JAD Session

• The session is divided into three segments
• Introduction Welcoming remarks description of
  the facilities such as rest room locations,
  messages, reviewing the agenda and setting
  expectations.
• Conducting the session To confirm deliverables
  set out in the session objectives.
• Wrapping up the session By summarizing progress
  towards the objectives reviewing the agenda for
  the next one and obtaining feedback from the
  participants.

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JAD Session

• Potential drawbacks
• The commitment of a large block of time for all
  participants
• Requirements collected could be less than
  satisfactory due to unpredictability of the JAD
  session or organizational culture not
  sufficiently developed to enable the concerted
  efforts required to be productive in a JAD
  setting.