Create minimalist user interview templates based on product context, goals, and interview type. Gathers inputs, applies PM best practices (The Mom Test, non-leading questions, past-focus), and saves a ready-to-use Markdown template to the user's Desktop.
Create a minimalist, best-practice interview template that a PM can print or open on their laptop during a live user interview. The output is a single markdown file saved to outputs/interview-templates/.
This skill exists because interview quality depends on question quality. It applies PM best practices (The Mom Test, non-leading questions, past-focus) to generate templates that surface real user behavior, not aspirational answers.
| Artifact | Format | Handed to | |----------|--------|-----------| | Interview template | Markdown (goals, warm-up, core questions, wrap-up, notes section) | Interviewer / PM |
When the user invokes this skill, gather the required inputs, validate the questions against PM best practices, then generate and save the template.
Collect all 6 inputs before generating the template. Ask for any that are missing.
| # | Input | Description | |---|-------|-------------| | 1 | Product | What product or feature area is this interview about? | | 2 | Interview Goals | What do you want to learn? What decisions will this inform? | | 3 | Top Questions | The 1-2 most important questions to ask (or tasks for usability studies) | | 4 | Magic Wand Question | Include a "magic wand" question at the end? (Yes / No) | | 5 | Target Personas | Who are you interviewing? (role, seniority, domain) | | 6 | Interview Type | Open interview, usability study, or a mixture of both? |
Before adding any user-provided questions to the template, review them against these 8 criteria. If a question fails any check, rewrite it and explain the change to the user.
Flag any question that suggests a desired answer or pushes the respondent in a particular direction.
Bad: "Don't you think the new dashboard is easier to use?" Rewritten: "Walk me through how you used the dashboard last time."
Identify questions that wouldn't pass "The Mom Test" -- questions people would lie about to be polite, hypothetical futures, or opinion-based rather than fact-based.
Bad: "Would you use this feature?" Rewritten: "Tell me about the last time you ran into this problem. What did you do?"
Rephrase questions about hypotheticals or future intentions to focus on past behaviors and actual experiences.
Bad: "How would you handle this situation?" Rewritten: "Tell me about the last time you..."
Check that questions allow for genuine exploration and are not too narrow or closed.
Bad: "Is the onboarding process good?" Rewritten: "Walk me through your experience getting started with the product."
Assess whether questions help "excavate the story" with temporal prompts like "What happened first?" and "What happened next?"
If the interview type includes usability, note where visual elements, prototypes, or demonstrations should be incorporated. Add placeholder markers in the template.
Ensure there is enough flexibility and time for follow-up questions and deeper exploration. Do not overload the template with too many questions.
Identify which questions are most critical vs. nice-to-have, given typical interview time constraints (30-45 minutes). Mark nice-to-have questions as optional.
The generated template must follow this exact structure:
# User Interview: [Product Name]
**Date:** _______________
**Interviewer:** _______________
---
## Participant Info
| Field | Details |
|-------|---------|
| **Name** | |
| **Company / Team** | |
| **Tenure** | |
| **Seniority Level** | |
| **Role** | |
---
## Interview Goals
> [Brief summary of what we want to learn from this interview]
---
## Warm-Up (2-3 min)
> Start conversational. Build rapport. Do NOT lead with product questions.
- "Thanks for taking the time to chat. Before we dive in, how are things going for you lately?"
- "How has your week been?"
*Listen actively. Let them settle in. This is not a throwaway -- genuine interest
builds trust and surfaces context you wouldn't get from jumping straight to questions.*
---
## General Feedback (5 min)
> One open-ended question to capture unprompted feedback before introducing any specific topics.
- "[Open-ended question tailored to the product -- e.g., 'Tell me about your experience with [product] recently. What stands out?']"
**Probing prompts:**
- "What happened first?"
- "What happened next?"
- "How did that make you feel?"
- "What did you end up doing about it?"
---
## Core Questions (15-20 min)
> [1-2 questions or usability tasks -- the heart of the interview]
### Question 1
[The question or task, rewritten to pass all quality checks]
**Follow-up probes:**
- [Contextual follow-up 1]
- [Contextual follow-up 2]
- "Can you tell me more about that?"
[If usability study: ### Task 1 -- include task description, success criteria,
and "[SHOW PROTOTYPE / SCREEN]" placeholder]
### Question 2 (if provided)
[The question or task, rewritten to pass all quality checks]
**Follow-up probes:**
- [Contextual follow-up 1]
- [Contextual follow-up 2]
---
## Magic Wand (3 min) -- [INCLUDE ONLY IF REQUESTED]
> "If you had a magic wand and could change one thing about [product/workflow],
> what would it be and why?"
**Probing prompts:**
- "What would that look like day-to-day?"
- "How would you know it was working?"
---
## Wrap-Up (2 min)
- "Is there anything else you wanted to share that we didn't cover?"
- "Anyone else on your team you think I should talk to?"
---
## Post-Interview Notes
| Field | Notes |
|-------|-------|
| **Key Themes** | |
| **Surprises** | |
| **Quotes Worth Saving** | |
| **Champion Candidate** | Yes / No |
| **Follow-Up Needed** | |
Open Interview:
Usability Study:
[SHOW PROTOTYPE / SCREEN] placeholdersMixture:
outputs/interview-templates/interview-template-[product-name-slug]-[YYYY-MM-DD].md from the repo root (creates the subfolder if missing)Do not save generated templates to ~/Desktop/. Keep generated artifacts under outputs/ so they are easy to find and can be ignored or committed intentionally.
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Category:productivity