Plan your first round of customer interviews

Before inviting people, choose the question you need answered, who can answer it, and when you will review what you hear. Reserve time for recruitment, preparation and notes as well as the conversations. GOV.UK’s planning guidance connects those choices before setting out rounds of research.

Start with one concrete plan

Suppose you’re considering software that passes repair-job details from an office to a technician. Before deciding whether to prototype it, you want to understand what information technicians receive before visits and how they use it.

Plan to speak with people who arrange repair visits and technicians who carry them out. Ask each person about a recent job: what details they sent or received, where those details were kept, and what they did next. “What, if anything, did you need to clarify?” leaves room for an account where the existing process worked well.

That question gives you a reason to invite these people. You are learning about their work before asking for reactions to your proposed tool. Use the finding people guide to turn the responsibilities into a search.

If you have two weeks

Set a review before you fill the calendar with calls. For the repair-job example, a two-week plan could look like this:

1. Before the interview period: Start finding and inviting people once the question is clear. Recruitment may need to begin before the two weeks you have set aside. If you only start on day one, allow part of the two weeks for recruitment. GOV.UK’s round-planning guide includes recruitment ahead of sessions, practice and analysis time.
2. First week: Prepare a few topics, check your call setup, and hold the conversations people have agreed to. Leave time after each to expand your notes. Set a review toward the end of the week to compare what the office staff and technicians described. The interview-count guide can help you decide how many conversations to plan.
3. Second week: Use that review to choose the next question and any additional people to invite. Keep some uncommitted time available for this, while honoring every confirmed appointment. Reserve a final review rather than filling the whole week with calls. Digital.gov’s planning guide likewise makes room for changing availability and reviewing the day’s research.

If you have teammates, agree who arranges the calls and who will join the reviews. If you’re working alone, protect those blocks from other commitments; the work between calls still takes time.

When the calendar runs ahead of recruitment

In the repair example, the review date might arrive before you have spoken with a technician. Read the office-side notes, but keep the unanswered question visible: you have heard what staff say they send, not how technicians use it.

Decide whether that missing account still matters enough to continue recruiting. If it does, adjust whom you invite or when you can meet. If you must stop, record the limit alongside your decision. Reaching the end of two weeks does not establish that people need or would buy the proposed tool.

Once you have the question, intended people and review time, write the invitation. For paid conversations, check the budget guide before committing to the round.