How do you plan and run user interviews for a new feature?
What the interviewer wants to hear
- Define research goals and questions with the team
- Recruit the right participants with a screener
- Discussion guide with open, behaviour-based questions
- Run sessions neutrally, probe, record with consent
- Synthesise into themes and share actionable insights
Model answer
I start by agreeing research goals with the product manager and engineers: what decisions will this research inform? Then I write a screener to recruit people who match the behaviour we care about, for example people who invoice clients monthly, usually five to eight per segment. My discussion guide moves from warm-up, to stories about recent real experiences, to deeper probes, with open questions like "Tell me about the last time" and no leading or hypothetical questions. During sessions I stay neutral, follow interesting threads and ask why, and I record only with consent while a teammate takes notes. Right after each session we write quick debriefs. At the end I synthesise using affinity mapping, turn themes into insights with evidence and quotes, and share a short readout with recommendations and open questions.
Can you answer it under time pressure?
Take a timed medium round and get scored on every answer.
More medium UI/UX Designer questions
- You have only one week to design a new feature. How do you include user research?
- A stakeholder gives feedback on your design that you disagree with. How do you handle it?
- How do you measure whether a design change was successful?
- Why are empty, loading and error states important, and how do you design them?
- An engineer says your design will take three times longer to build than planned. What do you do?
- You are asked to restructure the navigation of a large website with hundreds of pages. How do you approach it?
- A team wants a custom styled dropdown instead of the native select. How do you make sure it is accessible?
- How do you turn research findings into design decisions the team actually acts on?
- How do you run a design critique session that is useful rather than a debate about taste?