Ways to obtain information from the customer

In this article, I will provide several proven and effective ways to obtain the information you need when conducting a domain study to describe business processes and identify requirements in the IS.

Study documents

Probably, this is the first thing that all analysts at the beginning of any project face with analyzing and automating activities - this is a pile of documents on the table and a parting word from the manager: “Study.”
Problems:

• a large number of documents.
• irrelevance of documents.
• incompleteness of the description or "piecewise" documentation.

Tips:

• Study the documents before the interviews and meetings, as well as prior to the preparation of the questionnaires, otherwise during the meeting you will hear not the answer to the question, but links to documents that you then need to find and read. Then you will again have questions based on what you read.
• Use the information obtained from the documents when formulating questions. You can refer to the document, which will improve the opinion of you in the eyes of the customer, since you will not come to it empty-handed.

Get ready for the interview

One of the easiest ways to identify trubot is an interview with representatives of all departments, starting with top managers and ending with operating personnel of the company.
Problems:

• Unavailability of top management for the interview. I often hear that many simply don’t have time, “come back tomorrow.”
• The inaccessibility of line staff for the interview. Do not expect that you can come to the employee and ask him questions about what he actually does here. In large companies, all such meetings should be coordinated with managers.
• The subjective nature of information and a narrow field of view (the employee knows his routine and does not understand how to link his activities with the activities of other employees / departments).
• There are situations when an employee is not interested in providing accurate information. This is due to the fact that the ongoing project is aimed at changing its work, it causes fear and rejection. Then, after each phrase, he will repeat that he is satisfied with everything.
• There may be a mixture of information, some of which may relate to the situation “as it is”, and some - to the situation “as it should be”.

Tips:

• Develop an interview plan and questions, and most importantly, define the purpose of the interview. The first phrase should not sound: “Well, what are you doing here?”. The best result of the interview - the achievement of the goal.
• Do not lose contact, collaborate with employees. There should not be such a situation that you conducted an interview, and then made themselves known after 3 weeks. Do not forget to say the phrase "Thank you for your time."
• In each individual interview there can be no more than one or three topics, if so, divide the discussion into several meetings.
• Use one of the following methods of conducting an interview: “funnel” (the conversation begins with general, “high-level” questions, and then proceeds to particulars), “pyramid” (the conversation begins with a set of small, private questions and gradually turns to general); “Diamond” (first, specific issues are discussed, in the middle - general, and at the end of the interview, concretization is carried out again). I most often use a funnel, it allows you to build your answer more connected and remember the details more efficiently, and also allows you to first get an idea about the question, and then express your opinion. The “pyramid” sequence is recommended to be used in situations where the employee is not motivated to provide information on the interview topic. In such situations, it is advisable to start the interview with private questions, and to ask more general questions at the end, when the employee “talks”.
• The location of the interview should be private. Ideal: a separate non-passage room, not a study. No need to invite to a cafe, to the kitchen, to a smoking room (this is unprofessional).
• The interview must be organized by the respondent’s supervisor! This is especially recommended in the event that the respondent refuses to conduct an interview, citing such reasons as lack of time, lack of an appropriate management order.
• Record what you say, write on paper or voice recorder. Do not ask again the same thing several times.
• Listen more than speak. It is necessary to speak in order to establish contact with the interviewee at the beginning of the conversation and continue to adhere to the plan during the interview. The main rule: do not move on to a new topic until the previous one is fully disclosed. The transition from topic to topic should be preceded by a statement informing that one topic is completed and another begins. This can be done in the form of a conclusion, a final summary, built on the type of summing question, giving the respondent an opportunity to add or supplement something.
• Rephrase and say out loud the received answers. Paraphrasing and structuring what has already been said, you can clarify whether you understood what you were told about. This technique also allows the interviewee to add information or develop important points.

Brainstorming

The main result of brainstorming is that in a short time frame there is a summation of experience, knowledge and the finding of optimal solutions to specific tasks that satisfy everyone. One of the principal moments of brainstorming is the independence of judgment.
Problems:
For all its merits, “brainstorming” is intended mainly for thinking about such tasks as development strategy, brand promotion, and launching a new product to the market. Do not use it in those cases when you want to get a narrow expert knowledge, "non-experts" will simply be bored or bear nonsense.
Tips:

• A few days before the brainstorming session, participants should receive a problem statement, think out solutions from each other and select, in their opinion, the most appropriate ones. When the team comes together, all proposals will be examined, it will be possible to see all points of view and individual levels of consideration of the problem. Important prior training.
• Mutual critical comments and interim assessments are strictly prohibited.
• Avoid the idea that the problem under discussion can only be solved by known methods; there should not be phrases like “we solved this in this or that way for 10 years, let's go further”.
• During the discussion, there are no bosses or subordinates - there is a moderator and participants.
• If 30–40 minutes after the start of the brainstorming session, the group did not find a single satisfactory idea, then the discussion should be interrupted.

Conducting a survey

Problems:

• It is rather difficult to formulate questions, since to compile a high-quality questionnaire it is necessary to have a good understanding of the organization’s activities.
• It is difficult to handle a large number of questionnaires, especially those containing questions that allow ambiguous answers.

Tips:
Questionnaires should be used to verify the results of the survey obtained using other methods.

Conducting observation

Observation is an auxiliary method, which is used mainly to collect information about the processes of activity and to verify information from experts obtained during the interview. The business analyst independently studies the course of the process. The information obtained describes both the execution logic and contains quantitative data on the execution time of the process and its individual functions.
Problems:

• Big time investment.
• Distorted information. The behavior of the organization’s personnel in the presence of an observer may differ from the everyday, which may lead to a distortion of the process logic and changes in the parameters of its functions.
• The fact of the presence of an outside observer, as a rule, leads to an increase in the productivity of the participants in the process. It is necessary to notice the changes occurring, otherwise the data obtained will not be objective.

Tips:
I do not use this method due to the fact that it is simply not accepted in Russian practice, the maximum that you will be allowed is a tour of the company. In addition, the observation often causes irritation among employees.