Discovery interviews that produce decisions

Most discovery interviews produce agreement, not information. The user is polite, the idea sounds reasonable, and everybody leaves the room more confident and no better informed.

Ask about last time

Hypotheticals are worthless. 'Would you use this' measures politeness. 'Walk me through the last time you did this' measures behaviour, and behaviour is the only thing that has already happened.

If the last time was more than a month ago, you are solving a problem they do not have often enough to pay for.

The four questions

• When did you last do this, and what triggered it?
• What did you use, and what did it cost you — time or money?
• What did you do immediately after it failed?
• Who else had to be involved?

The fourth question is the one people skip, and it is the one that tells you whether you are selling to one person or to a committee. It changes the product, the pricing and the sales motion, and it costs one sentence to ask.