Steve Portigal

Steve Portigal literally wrote the book on interviewing users, “Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights.” His work pushes us to go where the people are and embrace how they see the world. When speaking to an interview participant, treat them like they are the expert and you are the novice. Present assumptive questions; have them validate these assumptions through naive (and humble) inquiry. You may be surprised by what you hear back.

“Interviewing Users” covers the entire user interview process. Steve provides an interview framework, sections on getting ready to interview, moving beyond questions, roles and key stages of interviews, how to ask questions, documenting the interview, optimizing the interview, and research/analysis of the interview results (or how to make an impact).

I’ve read this book more times than I would care to admit. When I’ve forgotten something in the research planning process, I grab my copy of “Interviewing Users,” do a little digging, and fill in what I was missing.

Steve is well known for his writings:

Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries: User Research War Stories (2016).

Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights (2013).