Create Interview Guide

Overview

Generate a structured customer interview guide based on The Mom Test (Rob Fitzpatrick). Every question is designed to extract truthful signal about past behavior, real pain, and actual workflows — not hypothetical opinions or compliments. The guide includes a "Bad vs Good" column so the interviewer can self-correct in real time, and "What to listen for" cues so they know what signal to capture.

Workflow

1. Read product context — Scan .chalk/docs/product/ for the product profile (0_product_profile.md), existing JTBD canvases, research syntheses, and any prior interview guides. Check .chalk/docs/product/ for research synthesis docs to avoid re-asking already-answered questions. If no product context exists, work from what the user provides.

2. Parse the research goal — Extract from $ARGUMENTS the topic, hypothesis, or area of exploration. If the user provides a vague topic (e.g., "onboarding"), ask one round of clarifying questions: Who are we interviewing? What decisions will this research inform? What do we already believe is true?

3. Identify the interview persona — Determine who will be interviewed based on product context or user input. Note their likely context, role, and relationship to the problem space. This shapes the warm-up questions and the vocabulary used throughout.

4. Generate warm-up questions (5 questions) — These build rapport and establish context. They ask about the person's role, daily workflow, and general environment. No product-related questions yet. Purpose: make the interviewee comfortable and give the interviewer context to ask better follow-up questions.

5. Generate core questions (8-12 questions) — These are the heart of the interview. Every question must pass all Mom Test rules:

   • Asks about past behavior, not hypothetical futures
   • Asks for specifics (last time, specific instance), not generalizations