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I have a very interesting research assignment, and I'd like to hear your cut
on the answers.
We make test equipment for mobile phone production lines. We want to know
more about what happens after the Test Set has been programmed and installed
in the line.
We have a A LOT of pushback from customers who don't want us in there doing
contextual inquiry, so we'll have to do a lot of phone interviewing to find
answers to these questions.
So my assignment is to write five questions that will draw the customer's
story out of them. Then I'll take those questions and start contacting field
reps.
Some hazards I expect:
1) the field reps aren't any more open to letting me call the customers
directly than they are towards visiting them. So I'll have a task of
convincing them to let me speak to customers directly.
2) I also have language problems with my not being able to speak many
languages of our customers (Chinese and Korean come to mind).
3) I also want to be able to detect when the rep is just presuming stuff
about the customer rather than relying on things he's really seen or
experienced.
So, I'm thinking about 2 different sets of questions, one for customers and
one for reps.
Here's my first pass (order of the questions is relevant):
Customer questions:
1. Tell me what happens after the test set is programmed and on the
production line.
2. What happens when something goes wrong with the test set?
3. What happens when something goes wrong with line falloff?
4. Who is responsible for the test set on the production line?
5. What does this person do when everything is going right?
Sales Representative questions:
1. Tell me what happens after the test set is programmed and on the
production line.
2. Tell me about the people who are responsible for the test set after it is
put into the line
3. What happens when something goes wrong with the test set?
4. What happens when something goes wrong with line falloff?
5. What does this person do when everything is going right?
What do you think? Which questions would you write?
