How To Run A Productive Generative Research Interview

I attended a workshop on interviewing by Bob Moesta a few years back. Instead of just talking theory, Bob did a live interview during the workshop and it was one of the most eye-opening experiences in terms of witnessing how effective someone who is really skilled in interviewing can be.

Fortunately Bob has written about the process he uses in the book Demand Side Sales, and it is well worth a read. in one section he outlines the way he approaches an interview that I have summarised into four sections.

1. The setup

2. Framing the problem

3. Details, details, details

4. Contrast creates value

I go into more detail on each of the sections, and the types of questions to ask in each, in my article below. If you are really interested in improving your interviewing kills though I highly recommend Bob's book and his courses.

This Week’s Updates

Enabling the Team

Creating Joy At Work: The Key To Employee Engagement by HappyHenry
By focusing on autonomy, purpose, mastery, and aligning roles with individual strengths; organizations can cultivate a more motivated and productive workforce.

Disentangling The Three Languages: Customers, Product, And The Business by Jason Cohen
Challenges arise from the different "languages" spoken by customers, product teams, and business stakeholders. For effective translation between these perspectives align the efforts and achieve shared goals.

Product Direction

Does The Engineer In The Product Trio Need To Be The Tech Lead? by Teresa Torres
A product trio includes a product manager, design lead, and engineering lead. If the engineering lead isn’t in, there are other options.

The Easiest Way To Start Working With OKRs: Ground Your Work In What Matters by Christina Wodtke
A straightforward approach to adopting OKRs by applying them to current projects. Focusing on defining clear objectives and measurable key results to shift focus from tasks to impactful outcomes.

Continuous Research

How To Run A Productive Generative Research Interview by Rory Madden
This article introduces a proven approach to help you maximise the value of your interviews, drawing on methods from the Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework.

How To Recruit The Right Research Participants (Almost) Every Time by Caitlin Sullivan | Great Question
Caitlin shares an approach to recruiting research participants, such as defining the target audience & crafting effective screener surveys. [Sponsored Content]

Continuous Design

The State Of UX In 2025 by Fabricio Teixeira, Caio Braga
This page explores how UX is evolving, with AI tools and business-driven objectives taking more control, shifting design focus from user-centered to profitability and speed.

The Lean UX Anti-Pattern by Tendayi Viki
Cross-functional teams, while meant to foster collaboration, can create silos within organizations. Some solutions to consider are secondments, rotations, and team demos to break down barriers and encourage knowledge sharing.

Continuous Delivery

I Hate "quick Wins" by Hatem Zidi
Prioritizing quick wins can lead to technical debt, misaligned goals, and inconsistent user experiences. It advocates for a long-term vision focused on root cause analysis and sustainable code quality.

Architectural Intelligence – The Next AI by Thomas Betts
Architectural Intelligence is the ability to look beyond AI hype and identify real AI components. Determining how, where, and when to use AI elements comes down to traditional trade-off analysis.

Don’t miss out on these transformative talks!
Navigating the Product-Led Revolution

Ready to shape the future of product and platform innovation? Here’s a glimpse of what’s in store at UXDX EMEA 2025 in Berlin:

• Ryan Leffel explores the power and pitfalls of A/B testing, revealing how to balance data-driven decisions with bold, creative innovation.

• Steven Roest shares ING’s journey from IT-driven to product-led, highlighting how to scale success through collaboration across design, product, and IT.

• Szymon Kikla dives into Deliveroo’s platform transformation, showing how empowering product teams drives greater efficiency and success.

These talks are essential for anyone looking to break silos, scale innovation, and stay ahead in today’s fast-paced tech world. Grab your tickets and join the conversation shaping the future of product, design, and leadership.

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Video of the Week
We're agile. So why haven't outcomes improved?

In this talk, I explain why fake agile, or water-scrum-fall is more common than real agility and, more importantly, how you can make it easier for senior leaders in companies to make the necessary changes to enable real agility. Watch the full session here: 👇

The Results of Last Week’s Poll

The question: Do you summarise each interview that you conduct?

95.6% of people document their interviews using a snapshot or other similar method. This is great as it means that people have something to refer back to. But the big question now is how accessible are all of these snapshots?

I think we’ll dig into that in next weeks’s main thing.

If you want to improve your interviewing skills, check out our Continuous Research course for some best practices.